The A.I.P.C.L. forges
The French houses behind the certificate
Whose French knives does A.I.P.C.L. cover?
For us authenticity means far more than a label, it is a matter of conviction. That is why we visit the workshop of every forge regularly, keep close personal contact and check capacity, production steps and the origin of materials on site. Only French forges where we can carry out those checks ourselves take part in the A.I.P.C.L. scheme. No blanket promises, no marketing boilerplate, but long experience and direct relationships: that is what A.I.P.C.L. certification rests on.
Anyone holding a knife with the A.I.P.C.L. certificate of authenticity can be sure it is a genuine French Laguiole or Thiers knife, far removed from advertising claims in social media or in print, which usually remain unverified.
We currently work with the following forges and workshops
Great forges
Laguiole Honoré DurandOL Round Table
For more than thirty years Honoré Durand has been making knives in the village of Laguiole itself, the very place the knife takes its name from. The workshop motto has never changed: one man, one knife.
more about this forgeLaguiole en AubracOL Round Table
In Espalion, in the heart of the Laguiole country, Laguiole en Aubrac brought the cutler's trade back to life.
more about this forgeLaguiole Claude DozormeOL Round Table
The house was founded in 1902 by Blaise Dozorme at La Monnerie near Thiers. His nickname, the wolf, later became the mark of the manufactory.
more about this forgeLaguiole Le FidèleOL Round Table
In 1991 Isabelle and Yvan Boitel founded their firm in Thiers with a clear idea: respect the tradition, be bold in design and do not negotiate on quality. The name Le Fidèle, the faithful one, is no accident.
more about this forgeLaguiole Fontenille PataudOL Round Table
The story begins in 1929, when Jeanne Fontenille Pataud took over the Cornillon cutlery works in the Rue de Paris in Thiers. A woman at the head of a cutlery workshop was anything but usual at the time.
more about this forgeLaguiole Arbalète G. DavidOL Round Table
The story begins in 1810 with the Arbalète mark, one of the oldest cutlery marks in Thiers. In 1922 Genès David brought it into his workshop and shaped it into Arbalète G. David, with the crossbow as its emblem.
more about this forgeLaguiole Goyon-ChazeauOL Round Table
In 1953 Gabriel Goyon and Solange Chazeau founded their firm in Thiers. From the outset the quality of the individual knife came before everything else, and that stance has carried the business through the decades.
more about this forgeLaguiole ChevalierOL Round Table
Chevalier Laguiole was created in 2004 out of the old legend of the fire knight. The name, French for knight, is a statement of intent: bearing, and the ambition to give one's best.
more about this forgeCoutellerie du BarryOL Round Table
In the middle of the village of Laguiole, the birthplace of these knives, Laguiole du Barry does its work.
more about this forgeForge de LaguioleOL Round Table
Some knives are named after a village, others actually come from it. The Forge de Laguiole belongs to the second kind.
more about this forgeLaguiole Aveyron
The Aveyron is the department where the Laguiole was born. To name a workshop after that country is to commit to a whole origin, not merely to a word.
more about this forgeLaguiole Tradition
Tradition here is not a word on the packaging but the brief. This workshop keeps the classic shape, the inherited dimensions, the familiar spring types and the decoration exactly as they have grown over decades.
more about this forgeKnife artists
Laguiole Philippe VoissièreOL Round Table
In the workshop of Philippe Voissière the inherited Laguiole technique meets a clearly recognisable personal hand. The shapes are organic, the materials selected, the decoration sparing and placed with intent.
more about this forgeCoutellerie GMOL Round Table
Coutellerie GM stands for solid work with character. The knives are not heavily decorated, but they are precisely made and carefully thought out in their materials.
more about this forgeArmand Cayzac
Armand Cayzac is an artist within the Laguiole trade. His pieces are not merely knives but objects with a character of their own.
more about this forgeTy CoutelierOL Round Table
Ty Coutelier works in Brittany, far from the Aveyron where the Laguiole was born.
more about this forgeCoutellerie BRUNOL Round Table
Coutellerie Brun is run by Pascal and Florence Brun, and you can tell: behind every knife there are two people, not a company. The pieces are cleanly made, restrained in design and built to last.
more about this forgeDavid DauvillaireOL Round Table
David Dauvillaire was born in 1974 in Rodez, in the heart of the Aveyron and very close to the village of Laguiole.
more about this forgeVirgilio MuñozOL Round Table
Virgilio Muñoz is a master of the first rank. His name brings together technical precision, elegance of design and the title Meilleur Ouvrier de France, one of the highest distinctions French craft can award.
more about this forgeJean-Michel CayronOL Round Table
Jean-Michel Cayron stands for dedication and a love of precision.
more about this forgeThe links above lead to more about each forge, or to their range at original-laguiole.de.
we examine your knife and enter it into the A.I.P.C.L.
Does your Laguiole not have an A.I.P.C.L. certificate of authenticity yet?
You can have it registered afterwards, no matter where you bought the knife. We check from your photographs whether it really comes from a French forge, assign it to that forge and register it under its own number. Your knife then has the same page and the same document as any knife bought from us.
The examination costs 10.00 euros. If the result is negative, we refund it.