Who Is Cangshan?

A sketch of a knife being hand sharpened on a sharpening wheel.

The name Cangshan is shared by a majestic mountain in southwest China and a modest city where our company’s founder, Henry Liu, was born, grew up and wed his high school sweetheart, Mary.​


Henry studied engineering and worked in manufacturing for many years, producing a wide range of commercial food supply products and eventually starting his own business. Henry’s insistence on the use of premium materials coupled with his passion for innovative design paid off, and after only 11 years, his company grew to more than 800 employees at three independently owned manufacturing facilities.​


Life was good for Henry and Mary but, ultimately, their dream was to build a life and a business in the United States. So that is exactly what they did in 2012, when the Liu family moved to southern California. Henry continued to build his business, studying and observing the market around him. He built relationships with elite material manufacturers, cutting-edge product designers, and culinary enthusiasts in Germany, Sweden, and the United States. He worked ceaselessly with his designers to reconsider conventional thinking in the cutlery world. He built a team of people who were as excited as he was about the prospect of creating something truly different in a category gone stale.​


With hand-drawn characters from Henry's father as its logo, Cangshan Cutlery Company was born in 2012. In the time since, we have won thirty-two international design awards. We have partnered with Thomas Keller, the recipient of more Michelin Star awards than any other American chef ever. We expanded operations in 2022 with a new international headquarters located in Georgetown, Texas. Our cutlery is sold by the finest retailers across the United States and graces kitchen counters from coast to coast. All of us at Cangshan are grateful for this American dream realized and excited for what comes next.​