Sorry, don't know about the shears. About the knives, Carter has a great rep., but haven't used them yet. George Tichbourne's - I have had the pleasure. Fantastic stuff, more than worth the price, but you must like your knives on the strong and heavy side, as I do. Thomas Haslinger also makes some beauties, a little lighter but also better than any of the production stuff and well worth the price.
Noone has mentioned Hattori. They are absolutely superb and beautiful, and there have been several posts about them before. Not cheap though.
The new impregnated titanium stuff from Boker, I think, certaily sounds interesting.
For productions, not much to differentiate, but I like my Gerbers.