MADE IN FRANCE, MADE IN LAGUIOLE
The Forge de Laguiole workshop opened its doors in 1987. It was the culmination of a project dreamt up by a group of enthusiasts, including politicians and local business people, to reinstate the manufacture of Laguiole knives in the village of Laguiole.
Every stage of the knife manufacture is now carried out again in its place of origin. The making of Laguiole knives has returned to Laguiole.
This is the trademark that guarantees the origin of our products:
The logo is exclusive and attests that our knives were manufactured by Forge de Laguiole.
HISTORY
At the root of the Laguiole knife is the artisan and his expertise. Designated as a Living Heritage Company (Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant), we constantly strive to innovate, adapt and transform to ensure our knife manufacturing site doesn't simply become a museum. We also take great care to make quality products.
Forge de Laguiole has embarked on a crusade: the battle for the label 'Made in France', and more specifically, 'Made in Laguiole'. For us, at Forge de Laguiole, it's about much more than a marketing slogan; 'Made in France' is the basis of our company philosophy.
The early blacksmiths of Laguiole called the original knife the "capuchadou", a multitool knife used by peasants of the Aubrac plateau.
Casimir-Antoine Moulin,the first folding knife produced in Laguiole in the 1820's was the Laguiole Droit, the straight Laguiole, a knife without a decorated bee and with a forced notch. The handle was made from bone or ivory, and finished in the shape of a bird's beak. The model was made in Laguiole until 1900.
As time goes by, Pierre-Jean Calmels perfects his technique and soon introduces the folding knife, adding in 1840 an awl in response to the needs of shepherds and livestock farmers.
Between 1850 and 1860 the current shape of the Laguiole appears and becomes gradually refined.
In 1880, the Laguiole knife has a third piece added: the corkscrew. This was due to the sale of wine in bottles in urban society, but also in response to the request by the people of Aveyron who had left to find work in the cafés of Paris. Café owners and waiters were to remain loyal to their traditions, and were proud to use their 3-piece knife for customers in the capital.
In 1900, Laguiole knife-manufacturing is at its highest level and 30 people are employed in the forges of Laguiole.
The same year, at the Universal Exhibition in Paris the knifemakers Pagès and Calmels are awarded a Médaille d’Or (gold medal). In the space of 10 years, the Laguiole knifemakers were to be honored with around 20 medals in recognition of the quality of their knives.
The First World War (1914-1918) leads to the disappearance of the cutleries in Laguiole. From the end of the war, a proportion of the Laguiole knives are produced in Thiers.
From the 1960's Laguiole's customers - largely agricultural workers are in decline, the production of handmade knives is minimal and, by the beginning of the 1980's, knife-manufacture in Laguiole has almost ceased to exist.
In 1985, a group of Laguiole enthusiasts from the Aubrac plateau create the conditions for the return of Laguiole knife manufacture to its birthplace. The renaissance of the Forge de Laguiole becomes a reality in 1987.
DESIGNERS & FORGE DE LAGUIOLE
The Laguiole company may be firmly rooted in ancestral know-how but has also inspired a wealth of modern talent to produce its unique collectors' pieces.
Philippe Starck, Yan Pennor, Eric Raffy, Sonia Rykiel, Jean-Michel Wilmotte, C+B Lefebvre, Thomas Bastide, Olivier Gagnère, Matali Crasset, Pinel & Pinel, Christian Ghion, Andrée Putman, Hilton McConnico and Ora-ïto all offer their own interpretation of the Laguiole knife.
