The Laguiole pocket knife has a fascinating history, and yet that history is full of misunderstandings. It confuses customers all over the world, and a good many dealers and manufacturers make very handsome money out of precisely that confusion.

But let us start at the beginning.

1829, a village on a windswept plateau

The first Laguiole knives were made in 1829, designed by Pierre-Jean Calmels in the village of Laguiole in the Aveyron. He brought two things together: the capuchadou, the fixed shepherd's knife of the region, and elements borrowed from the Spanish navaja.

Whether the Spanish influence really was that strong has never been settled. Some workshops dispute it, because construction and blade shape differ markedly; others take it for granted. The argument belongs to this knife as much as the bee on its spring.

What happened next is rarely told: the knife became famous, but before long it was being made elsewhere. The cutlery industry sat in Thiers, some 200 kilometres away, and that is where production moved. In Laguiole itself, making came to a halt around 1917 and stayed extinguished for close to seventy years.

Only in 1985 did an initiative from the region set out to bring the craft home. In 1987 it became the Forge de Laguiole, and with it came the real resurrection: it won the knife recognition once more, not only in France but internationally.

The mistake that could never be undone

Somewhere along the way it was simply neglected to have the knife, or its shape, protected. Whether that would still have been possible after so long is another question. The fact remains: the name Laguiole belonged to nobody.

Since 18 October 2024 there is at least partial protection: the French trademark office has approved the geographical indication Couteau de Laguiole, administered by the association of Aveyron makers and valid for an area of some thirty kilometres around the village. It pays to look closely, though, because only the phrase Couteau de Laguiole is protected. The word Laguiole on its own remains free, and that is exactly what appears on the vast majority of knives in this world.

What becomes of a successful product

When a product does very well, enterprising people soon start working out how to make it more cheaply and widen the margin. China and Pakistan were quickly settled on as places of manufacture. It was the era of great globalisation: China courted foreign investors on a huge scale, and its entry into the World Trade Organisation in 2001 opened the gates for good.

Because the name Laguiole was unprotected, the knives could be produced in China, have the name put on them and be sold around the world as Laguiole knives. Interestingly, some of the biggest importers were French companies.

Why a Chinese Laguiole is not a counterfeit

Here we want to record something that surprises many people: Laguioles produced in China are not counterfeits. A counterfeit can really only exist of a registered trademarked product. Since Laguiole as such never belonged to the workshops, there can be no counterfeit of it.

What one speaks of then is the make, say Mercedes, Tesla or XPeng, and the place of manufacture, say Germany, Spain or China. With Laguiole it is exactly the same: one speaks of the workshop, say Laguiole en Aubrac, Laguiole Honoré Durand or Forge de Laguiole, and one speaks of the place of manufacture, say France, China or indeed Germany.

With cars this is well known and counts as common knowledge in Europe. With Laguiole, unfortunately, it does not. Most people assume automatically that a knife bearing the name Laguiole was, of course, made in France.

The price tells the truth, and nobody believes it

The astonishing thing is that this misunderstanding holds even when the figures are there in plain sight. A hand-made Laguiole from France costs more than 100 euros. On the supermarket shelf there is one for 30 euros. Both carry the same name. And the great majority of people see in that not a different product, but a bargain.

Yet the price answers the question by itself. For 30 euros at retail, no knife can be made by hand in France. The hours alone that go into fit, grinding and handle cost several times that, and the material is not yet paid for. Anyone buying a Laguiole for that money is buying not a cheap French knife, but a knife from another country.

The error is reinforced by the wording on the price tag. There stands the name Laguiole, beside it a French-sounding company name, a reference to tradition, sometimes even to the village in the Aveyron. Not one of those words is punishable or unlawful. Each on its own is even accurate. Only together do they form a single picture in the buyer's mind, and it is the wrong one: this knife comes from France.

And this is where the A.I.P.C.L. comes in

We have established a system that brings the French workshops together and protects the tradition and the passion of France's knife makers.

They can then decide for themselves whether to spend their hard-earned money on that knife, or rather acquire a genuine Laguiole, made by hand with love and respect for the tradition.

What the entry achieves

By entering the knife into the A.I.P.C.L. database, by creating its A.I.P.C.L. page with the visible proof of a photograph and a certificate of authenticity that cannot be falsified, you help to keep French knife-making alive. But you also hold a piece of history in your hands, one that can be passed on or sold, or you simply have the certainty that what you hold, or keep in your collection, really is handmade in France.

These workshops take part

Many workshops have already joined the A.I.P.C.L., to take a stand against China and Pakistan, and to give Laguiole enthusiasts the certainty that their knife really was made in France. These are the ones taking part at present:

More workshops will follow. Watch this space, and support the A.I.P.C.L. concept.

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