It all starts with the press cutting of sheets of metal, before the laminating stage which stretches the metal. These metal blanks are then pressed with steel moulds in presses, revealing the final shapes and designs of the cutlery.

The moulds are nowadays manufactured using high-tech machine tools, before being perfected manually by the engraver, who refines the details of designs with specific engraving tools. To produce a single piece of cutlery, four moulds are necessary, corresponding to the two successive stages of the cutlery press.

After shaping on the presses, the finishing of the cutlery requires a lot of meticulous and extremely precise manual skills.

Several successive operations are performed before the silver plating: polishing and degreasing so that the silver can perfectly adhere to the base metal. Deburring removes significant roughness, then sanding and polishing make a piece perfectly smooth and shiny. The perfectly rinsed piece can then be dipped into a silver plating electrolysis bath.

Ercuis insists on the very high quality of silver plate for its flatware. The coating of respects the standard of 33 microns required for the square grade 1 hallmark (superior quality).

Day by day, use and subsequent washing in a dishwasher will give them a nice patina because silver, like leather, is one of the few materials that becomes more beautiful with age.