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Opinel
Opinel is a French manufacturer of pocket knives. The company has made its line of eponymous wooden-handled knives since 1890 from its headquarters in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, Savoie. The company sells approximately 15 million knives annually. Opinel knives are made of both high carbon and stainless steel, the latter being Sandvik steel from Sweden.
Originally sold as a working man's knife, an Opinel knife has become emblematic of French culture. Pablo Picasso is said to have used one of the company's knives as a sculpting tool. In 1989, the Larousse dictionary cited "Opinel" as a registered trademark.
Joseph Opinel began making knives in 1890 in Savoie, France as a simple working man's or peasant's knife. It proved popular with the local farmers, herdsmen, and paysans-vignerons (peasant winemakers) of the area. In 1897, a series of twelve sizes, numbered 1 to 12, was developed. From 1901 to 1903, Joseph Opinel built his first factory in Pont de Gévoudaz and produced a machine for mass production of the knife's wooden handles.
The company hired peddlers to sell the knives and opened a small shop near the Chambéry railway junction, where the knives became popular with PLM railroad workers, who in turn spread word of the brand throughout France. By 1909, Opinel had registered his first trademark for the Opinel knife, choosing the main couronnée ("crowned hand") as his emblem. A few years later Opinel annual sales were in the hundreds of thousands, and by the start of World War II as many as 20 million knives had been sold.
The Opinel Virobloc or safety twistlock mechanism was invented by Marcel Opinel in 1955, increasing the safety and versatility of the knife by allowing the blade to be locked in the open position. In 2000, the Virobloc locking mechanism was improved to allow locking the blade in either the open or closed position.
In 1985 the Victoria and Albert Museum in London selected the Opinel knife as part of an exhibit celebrating the “100 most beautiful products in the world”, featuring the Opinel alongside the Porsche 911 sports car and the Rolex watch. The Opinel was also selected as one of the 999 classic designs in Phaidon Design Classics, and has been exhibited by the New York's Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) as a design masterpiece.
The traditional Opinel knife has a beechwood handle and a high carbon XC90 steel (acier au carbone) blade. Opinel also offers most of its models with a Sandvik 12C27M stainless steel (acier inox) blade. Custom Opinel models are available using luxurious or exotic handle woods such as oak, walnut, olive wood, bubinga (African rosewood), ebony and stained hornbeam, as well as other materials such as cowhorn.
The Opinel Slim Effilé series uses a tapered handle with a slender clip point blade made of Sandvik stainless steel, and the handle may be obtained in a variety of different materials, including bubinga, olive, ebony and cowhorn.
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Opinel
Opinel is a French manufacturer of pocket knives. The company has made its line of eponymous wooden-handled knives since 1890 from its headquarters in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, Savoie. The company sells approximately 15 million knives annually. Opinel knives are made of both high carbon and stainless steel, the latter being Sandvik steel from Sweden.
Originally sold as a working man's knife, an Opinel knife has become emblematic of French culture. Pablo Picasso is said to have used one of the company's knives as a sculpting tool. In 1989, the Larousse dictionary cited "Opinel" as a registered trademark.
Joseph Opinel began making knives in 1890 in Savoie, France as a simple working man's or peasant's knife. It proved popular with the local farmers, herdsmen, and paysans-vignerons (peasant winemakers) of the area. In 1897, a series of twelve sizes, numbered 1 to 12, was developed. From 1901 to 1903, Joseph Opinel built his first factory in Pont de Gévoudaz and produced a machine for mass production of the knife's wooden handles.
The company hired peddlers to sell the knives and opened a small shop near the Chambéry railway junction, where the knives became popular with PLM railroad workers, who in turn spread word of the brand throughout France. By 1909, Opinel had registered his first trademark for the Opinel knife, choosing the main couronnée ("crowned hand") as his emblem. A few years later Opinel annual sales were in the hundreds of thousands, and by the start of World War II as many as 20 million knives had been sold.
The Opinel Virobloc or safety twistlock mechanism was invented by Marcel Opinel in 1955, increasing the safety and versatility of the knife by allowing the blade to be locked in the open position. In 2000, the Virobloc locking mechanism was improved to allow locking the blade in either the open or closed position.
In 1985 the Victoria and Albert Museum in London selected the Opinel knife as part of an exhibit celebrating the “100 most beautiful products in the world”, featuring the Opinel alongside the Porsche 911 sports car and the Rolex watch. The Opinel was also selected as one of the 999 classic designs in Phaidon Design Classics, and has been exhibited by the New York's Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) as a design masterpiece.
The traditional Opinel knife has a beechwood handle and a high carbon XC90 steel (acier au carbone) blade. Opinel also offers most of its models with a Sandvik 12C27M stainless steel (acier inox) blade. Custom Opinel models are available using luxurious or exotic handle woods such as oak, walnut, olive wood, bubinga (African rosewood), ebony and stained hornbeam, as well as other materials such as cowhorn.
The Opinel Slim Effilé series uses a tapered handle with a slender clip point blade made of Sandvik stainless steel, and the handle may be obtained in a variety of different materials, including bubinga, olive, ebony and cowhorn.