A striking set of kitchen knives developed by an Edinburgh Napier University (ENU) student aim to cut the misogyny faced by female chefs.
Olivia Baird drew on her experience of working in commercial kitchens to develop the uniquely uncomfortable utensils as part of her project Chef Gate.
The 21-year-old from Kirkcaldy hopes they could be used to deliver training exercises for chefs to help them understand the difficulties women face in kitchens. Her project takes on pervasive issues such as sexual harassment and dismissive behaviour.
Chef Gate is on show alongside the work of other students at ENU’s 2026 Degree Show, which opens to the public today.
It features six knives which impair a chef’s movement or force them into awkward positions – and even one which brands them.
Olivia said: “I've been working as a chef since my first year, so it has been a big part of my university experience.
“I'd never done any work in hospitality before. It’s been great, but also an eye-opening experience. In one kitchen, I was the only female for around six months.
“It’s a difficult subject to broach, and there isn’t an easy way to solve it. I had a bunch of ideas to start with, but I thought the knives were a good way of trying to talk about it.
“The knives themselves are all quite different as I wanted each of them to convey the various challenges you can face.
“I spoke to other female chefs to ask whether they’d had similar experiences, and they often said yes.”
As well as the half-dozen knives, Olivia’s final display for the Degree Show includes an eye-catching series of graphics highlighting the challenges faced by women in commercial kitchens.
She hopes the concept could replace online programmes as a way of delivering staff training in the hospitality industry.
Olivia added: “Instead of clicking through a course which is exactly the same every year – and is clearly not working – this would make it an experience that you don’t forget.
“Chefs are often used to more interactive learning, or may have English as a second language, so if you make it a physical experience it could work better.
“It would be good to get the opinions of bigger companies in the industry and see if it is something they would be interested in. I would love to see it go further.”
For Olivia, this project marks the conclusion of her BDes Product Design degree.
She said: “I've always been quite creative. I liked the idea of physically making things, rather than just designing them.
“One of my teachers at school actually did the course and was very encouraging. Thankfully that advice has paid off!
“The friendships we've made on the course have been great and the lecturers have been really good - so supportive.”
Chef Gate is on display alongside work from Olivia’s School of Arts & Creative Industries colleagues as part of the Degree Show, which runs between 29 May and 5 June at ENU’s Merchiston campus.
You can find out more about attending the 2026 Edinburgh Napier University Degree Show here.