There are maps, and there's what goes with them. In a traveller's bag, alongside the guidebook and the folded map, you'll often find a little knife with a smooth wooden handle: an Opinel. We're delighted to announce it — Opinel knives have now joined our shop.

An icon born in the Alps

The story begins in 1890, in Savoie. Joseph Opinel, eighteen years old, the son and grandson of edge-tool makers, shapes a simple, sturdy and affordable pocket knife in the family workshop, made in a series of numbered sizes. Its success soon spreads well beyond the valley's farmers. On the blade, a stamp that would stay with the brand for good: the "crowned hand", borrowed from the coat of arms of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and topped with a crown in memory of the Duchy of Savoy.

In 1955, Marcel Opinel added the Virobloc, the rotating collar that locks the blade — the final touch to an object so perfectly judged that Phaidon Design Classics ranks it among the finest designs of all time. More than a century on, the Opinel is still made in Savoie, by the same family.

The perfect companion to a fine map

An Opinel weighs next to nothing and does a thousand jobs. It's the knife for a picnic on the trail, for bread and cheese at a rest stop, for the apple shared at the summit. The No. 8, the most versatile, slips into a pocket and is handed down from one generation to the next. In short: the perfect companion to a fine hiking or travel map — the one you buy at the same time, and never forget again. You'll find every model in our Opinel collection.

Light, loyal, indestructible: the Opinel is the companion to all your adventures, to slip into your bag right next to the map. Discover Opinel knives.