Atelier Karim
A portrait of Karim Aït-Mohand, oil presser · grove keeper — Birmingham.
Karim left London — and a quiet career in architecture — to come home to his grandfather's olive grove in the Soummam valley. He found the stone mill still standing, the trees still bearing fruit, and a village quietly hoping someone would press oil there again.
"The oil tells you the year — the rain in March, the wind in October. You only have to taste."
A few quiet rules in the kitchen.
An olive is alive until you press it. The closer to harvest, the closer to the truth of the fruit — everything we do is a race against oxygen.
A recipe passed by hand.
The grove was planted in 1934 by Karim's grandfather, Belaïd, who carried saplings up the valley on a mule. Three hundred Chemlal trees still stand on terraces his father walked as a boy.
From the hand,
to the box.
Around 1,200 litres a season. When the harvest is done, the season is done.
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Hand-harvested at first ripeness — green-gold, never black
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Pressed within four hours, in the original 1930s stone mill
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Decanted gravity-only — no filtration, no heat
- 04
Rested in dark stainless tanks under the mountain breeze
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Bottled into tins the morning of dispatch
Every ingredient has an address.
Single-grove Chemlal olives, hand-picked between late October and early November. No blends, no bought-in fruit — what you taste was harvested in a single week.
What this house is known for.
Bio
Deglet Nour Dates, oasis-grown
par atelier karimHave a question for Karim?
Custom orders, gift notes, allergens, a wedding tray — write directly. Karim answers herself.
Write to the kitchen