Step Inside One of the World’s Most Important Pocket Knife Factories

The village of Laguiole is perched high on a plateau in France’s Massif Central range, in the heart of the Aubrac countryside. It is filled with stone houses with gray-shingled roofs that are blanketed with snow in the winters and overlook colorful fields of wildflowers in summer. According to the official census, some 1,200 people live in Laguiole, but one local put the number closer to 500; a single walk through the quiet, picturesque cattle town is enough to believe it. Bakery windows are painted with bulls’ horns, and the brawny silhouette of the local Aubrac cow appears on much of the town’s signage. A large brass bull stands in the town square.

Photo by Chandler Bondurant

Milk from the Aubrac cow is used to make the local unpasteurized blue cheese, Tome de Laguiole, which is certified by the French government with a designation of appellation d’origine contrôlée, or AOC. This official stamp guarantees specific quality standards and geographic proximity, and acts as a certificate of authenticity for well-known French products — wines, butters, cheeses — both inside and outside France. But Tome de Laguiole is, at best, the region’s second-best-known export.

Photo by Chandler Bondurant

Laguiole’s most famous product by far is the distinctive slender knife of the same name. Originally a multitool for peasants of the Aubrac Plateau, Laguiole knives are found in the world’s greatest restaurants — and also in cheap faux-French cafés, small-town steakhouses and bargain homegoods stores. You can buy a set of eight on Amazon for about $20, with the option for next-day shipping, or a single handcrafted piece made over the course of two days for several hundred dollars. This is because there are few limits on who can use the Laguiole name. Officially speaking, there is no such thing as an authentic Laguiole knife.

Pierre Jean Calmels invented the Laguiole droit (“straight Laguiole”) knife in 1829 while working as the village blacksmith. It was a basic design meant for farmers; the handle was carved from the Aubrac cow’s black-tipped horn or ivory and the blade came to a central point. Later, Calmels updated his design, adding a fold-out trocar, a slim surgical awl used to puncture a cow’s rumen to relieve bloat. The blade was lean, with a slight curve.