He emphasizes luxury and extravagant design when it comes to the company's knives, forks and spoons.And his vision has worked. Mertens now ships high-end cutlery all over the world and continues to open new flagship stores, including in China. Mertens' headquarters is based in Solingen in western Germany. The 30-person business is one of few companies to successfully fight off cheaper competitors on the global stage. That's because Curt Mertens and his colleagues still make cutlery the way it's always been done at Mertens: by hand.