every
detail
matters
The term 'Laguiole' refers to a knife shape and the village in Aveyron on the Aubrac plateau where it was born. Any manufacturer can adopt the Laguiole design codes.
That is why it is useful to know the elements that distinguish a knife truly made in Laguiole, in respect of the cutlery tradition, from a simple reproduction.
Here are the anatomical markers of a Forge de Laguiole knife, and what they tell you about the quality of a piece.
The blade
The blade of a Laguiole knife is recognised by its yatagan shape, a slight curve that gives it an elegant and inimitable silhouette. At Forge de Laguiole, our blades are hot-forged at over 1,000°C in our Laguiole workshop: this process densifies the steel, offering a more durable edge, excellent resistance over time and easy sharpening. Made of stainless steel (or carbon steel on request), they are produced without micro-serration: a knife must cut cleanly, never tear. Each blade bears our Forge de Laguiole logo and the mention 'Made in Laguiole France — T14', the signature of our craftsmanship.
Rivets and nail nick
Place a Forge de Laguiole knife in your hand and look at the rivets: they align along the handle axis with a precision that owes nothing to chance. It's the kind of detail you notice once, and can never unsee. The nail nick is the small notch at the front of the blade, allowing it to be opened. It must be prominent, fine, precise, easily accessible without being cumbersome. A nail nick that is too thick or poorly positioned is an indicator of careless work.
The bolsters
There are details that aren't immediately visible. You discover them by taking the knife in hand, turning it over, letting your thumb glide over the metal. The bolster is one of those details. A solid piece placed at the ends of the handle, it protects it, anchors it, gives it that presence you recognise without always knowing why. At Forge de Laguiole, we chose to make them ourselves, in stainless steel or brass. Not for show, but because it is at this level of detail that a knife's coherence is at stake.
The geographical
indication
The name Laguiole has long belonged to everyone, which meant it belonged to no one. Knives made far from the Aubrac, sometimes on the other side of the world, could bear this name without constraint for decades. Since October 2024, INPI has officially approved the Geographical Indication 'Couteau de Laguiole', identifying knives made here.
Manufacturing is limited to 24 communes in northern Aveyron, within a 30-kilometre radius of the village. If you see this logo on a knife, the answer is simple: it was made in Aveyron, by cutlers trained here, with controlled materials. Nowhere else. At Forge de Laguiole, we have been making here since our creation in 1987. The GI didn't change us. It simply made visible what we were already doing.
From the Aubrac plateau, Forge de Laguiole collaborates with starred chefs, architects and renowned designers to reinvent the Laguiole knife. From these encounters, exceptional creations are born, where the demands of haute gastronomy, design innovation and the excellence of French cutlery craftsmanship combine to bring unique pieces to life.
in collaboration
with Philippe Starck
An iconic collaboration with Philippe Starck, a major figure in contemporary design. For Forge de Laguiole, he reinterprets the knife with audacity, rethinking its lines and materials. From this encounter, a singular creation is born, where innovation, ergonomics and cutlery craftsmanship unite in an object that is both functional and visionary.
Discover the knives
in collaboration
with C+B Lefebvre
Their approach to industrial design, rigorous, functional and without concession to the superfluous, led them to rethink the very morphology of the knife. Every curve preserved is a justified curve. Every proportion is the result of a decision, never a habit.
Discover the knives
in collaboration
with Maison Bras
The Bras family has forged a faithful collaboration with the Forge, deeply rooted in the Aubrac. From the cheese knife imagined by André and Michel Bras for Le Suquet, to the Capuchadou in densified ash paying homage to the plateau's shepherds, to the Café Bras knife in vegetable fibre composite whose shape evokes painter Soulages's brushes, each creation is a dialogue between cuisine, territory and modernity.
Discover the knives
in collaboration
with Olivier Gagnère
Olivier Gagnère signed two distinct collaborations for the Forge. For the centenary of Roquefort Papillon, he created a black horn cheese knife where the butterfly replaces the bee. For Jean-Yves Schillinger's JY'S restaurant in Colmar, he imagined a table knife of jewellery-like refinement with a gold brass fillet and a 'rice grain' bee set like a cabochon.
Discover the knives
in collaboration
with Éric Raffy
An architect-designer passionate about Japan, where he notably built a Buddhist temple in Tokyo, Éric Raffy designed for the Forge a table knife whose purity stands as its defining feature: a cambered handle in black acrylic glass, a sharpened blade beneath an unprecedentedly shaped bee.
Discover the knives
in collaboration
with Anne-Sophie Pic
The Anne-Sophie Pic knife, imagined by C+B Lefebvre inspired by the chef's culinary décors, features an elongated ebony handle, a stainless steel blade with a razor-sharp edge and a subtly suggested fly. It is in the image of its inspiration: refined and radical. Anne-Sophie Pic is triple-starred and was the first woman named Best Female Chef in the World in 2010.
Discover the knives
in collaboration
with Andrée Putman
Created by Andrée Putman and her daughter Olivia within Studio Putman, this series reinterprets with sobriety two identity markers of the cutlery tradition: the straight handle and the traditional bee. Available in ebony or densified ash, this knife is one of the last creations signed by Andrée Putman, pioneer of French design notably known for the renovation of the Morgans Hotel in New York.
Discover the knives
in collaboration
with Jean-Michel Wilmotte
In 2004, Jean-Michel Wilmotte and Forge de Laguiole were the first to introduce Dacryl®, an acrylic crystal intended for construction, into cutlery. This multicoloured range has travelled the world. In 2012, he designed with Cyril Lignac a knife with an aluminium handle treated using an exclusive process, whose blade does not rest on the table, for the restaurant Le Quinzième.
Discover the knives
in collaboration
with Christian Ghion
Christian Ghion is one of the most loyal designers to Forge de Laguiole. He signed Le Massif, a monobloc stainless steel knife; Le Passedat, dual-use meat and fish for triple-starred chef Gérald Passedat of Le Petit Nice; the Ardent folding knife inspired by Fanny Ardant in ebony and solid silver; and L'Universel in 2021, with a teardrop handle evoking 18th-century French cutlery.
Discover the knives
in collaboration
with Santos Bregana
Santos Bregana designed for Forge de Laguiole the León knife, in collaboration with Spanish chef José Gordón, emblematic figure of cuisine and owner of El Capricho restaurant, considered one of the best meat tables in the world. This creation unites two cultures of excellence around an object tailored for the most demanding carnivore table.
Discover the knives1828-1829
Casimir Antoine Moulin settles in Laguiole and becomes the village's first cutler. This marks the first transition from blacksmith to cutler.
1850 – 1860
The silhouette refines. The current shape of the Laguiole knife is born.
1880
From 1880, the 3-piece knife appears, featuring a corkscrew and an awl. The corkscrew is linked to the demand from Aveyron natives who conquered Parisian cafés. The awl remained in the hands of Aubrac cattle breeders.
1909
The first bee on a Laguiole knife. According to legend, its presence on the knives would be a tribute to the courage of Laguiole's inhabitants by Emperor Napoleon himself.
1914 – 1918
The First World War, combined with rural exodus, led to a sharp decline in the workforce in Laguiole, durably weakening local cutlery activity.
1985
Driven by a committed team from the Aubrac plateau, including the mayor of the time, the revival of Laguiole knife production came to life with the creation of Forge de Laguiole. This initiative marked a decisive turning point: the knife finally returned to Laguiole, where it was born, reviving an emblematic craftsmanship of the territory.
1987
Forge de Laguiole opens its doors in the village. For the first time, a registered trademark guarantees the origin and traceability of every knife produced here. The story continues in Laguiole.
cradle of
our
inspiration
The Aubrac is a land that cannot be tamed. Wild, proud, swept by winds between Aveyron, Cantal and Lozère, it has shaped people in its image. Dotted with its burons, those stone shelters where shepherds lived during the summer pasture, it watches the years pass under a climate that makes no concessions.
A land of breeding and transmission, the Aubrac has forged its people, who have learned to make the most of every resource this environment offers, while preserving it with care. It is this territory that inspires us every day.
The Aubrac is above all a land of breeding. And at the heart of this territory, one breed embodies its wild soul better than any other: the Aubrac. Robust, elegant, with a wheaten coat and black-rimmed eyes, it reigns as absolute mistress over these immense plains. For centuries, the plateau's breeders have built their lives around her, forging a relationship with the living as demanding as it is authentic. A quiet nobility that is found, in its own way, in each of our knives.
The Aubrac gives nothing without effort, but to those who know how to listen, it offers everything. Classified as a Regional Natural Park, this generous plateau has transformed the harshness of its climate into excellence. Here, the milk of cows grazing flowering meadows at over 1,000 metres becomes the Laguiole AOP, an aged cheese with incomparable aromas. Aubrac breed beef, raised outdoors, stands as one of the noblest in France. And recently, a whisky, Twelve, is born in Laguiole itself, distilled from the plateau's spring waters, as if the Aubrac had found in its peat bogs a hint of Scotland.
plongez au
cœur
de l’aubrac
The transhumance
Every spring, a ritual as old as the Aubrac is replayed. The herds leave the valleys and climb back to the summer pastures, guided by breeders like their ancestors before them. A suspended moment, between tradition and emotion, where the plateau rediscovers its life and colours.
L'aubrac en TranshumanceThe buron
Stone buildings on the heights, burons are the living memory of the Aubrac. These rudimentary shelters once housed shepherds during the summer pasture, while they made cheese. Today, they still watch over the plateau like silent guardians of passing time.
Le buronThe aligot of Aubrac
Fresh tome cheese, potatoes, garlic — aligot is much more than a dish. It is a gesture, a generosity, a pride. Born in the burons to feed shepherds, it is today the gourmet ambassador of an entire territory. On the Aubrac, you don't eat aligot, you celebrate it.
L'aligot de l'Aubracour commitments
Born here.
Made here.
In 1985, it was a team from the Aubrac plateau, led by the mayor of Laguiole, that organised the revival of knife manufacturing in its village of origin. Forge de Laguiole is the direct fruit of this collective will. Others claim this territory while being established elsewhere, far from the historic village. For us, the address is not a detail — it is a conviction.
Masters of
our manufacturing
At Forge de Laguiole, we don't receive parts, we receive raw material. Steel arrives in bars, horn whole, wood in logs. It is here, in the hands of our cutlers, that everything is transformed. Every manufacturing stage is carried out in our manufacture, never delegating what is essential. This choice is not trivial: it is the absolute guarantee that our level of standards applies to every piece, every gesture, every detail. From raw material to finished knife, nothing escapes us. And that is exactly what we want.
Eco-design
Local manufacturing
Responsible materials
Controlled carbon footprint
Geographical Indication
'Couteau de Laguiole'
The GI Couteau de Laguiole is the first industrial and artisanal geographical indication in the Aveyron department. It guarantees that each GI knife is made according to strict specifications, on the historic territory that saw this knife born. A true GI-compliant Laguiole knife is made in Northern Aveyron and bears the mention 'Geographical Indication' with the official logo. We are very proud that this label adorns the blades of our traditional folding knives. (INPI No. 2404)
Our labels
&
certifications
Living Heritage
Recognised by the State
The Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant label is one of the highest distinctions the French State can award a manufacture. It rewards rare, mastered, transmitted craftsmanship. Forge de Laguiole has held it since 2007.
Responsible Enterprise
UIMM committed
Improving is a choice. Forge de Laguiole decided to formalise it. By obtaining the 'Engaged Enterprise' certification from UIMM, we accepted an external review of our economic, social and environmental practices. This audit revealed our strengths, but also the paths we still have to travel. We accept them, and have committed to following them over the next three years.
Made
in Occitanie
Occitanie is a land of character, living traditions and exceptional craftsmanship. It is here, in this region with recognised industrial and artisanal heritage, that Forge de Laguiole has anchored its production for nearly 40 years. Manufacturing in Occitanie means choosing a territory, its people, its values — and being proud of it.
Made
in Aveyron
Aveyron is not a department like any other. A land of resistance, authenticity and excellence, it is home to some of France's greatest products: Roquefort, the Aubrac breed, aligot, and the Laguiole knife. Forge de Laguiole is proud to be from Aveyron and bears the 'Made in Aveyron' label.
