Oser Communications Group

The Knife Rack THE KNIFE RACK 1 0 KITCHENWARE NEWS & HOUSEWARES REVIEW n MARCH 2014 n www.kitchenwarenews.com BY LORRIE BAUMANN The Opinel brand isn't a household word across America, but in France, it's a name that's synonymous with the pen knife, according to Frederic Camboulives, owner of NeverUnder, official USA importer and distributor of Opinel cutlery. Although it's not yet widely known in the western U.S., the brand is more common on the East Coast, where it's been brought to the country by European visitors and immigrants, and imports of the knives into the U.S. are growing rapidly. Opinel knives are currently sold in 70 countries around the world. The Opinel folding knife with its wooden handle is an iconic object that harks back to the days when a gentleman did not venture abroad without a blade. The company that makes it was founded in France in 1890 by the blacksmithing family headed by Joseph Opinel and is still making 17,000 knives a day in the very same place. Even today, most Frenchmen have a Opinel knife in a pocket or a drawer at home. "It's a very cleverly designed pocketknife, very affordable," says Camboulives. "It's not possible to confuse it with anything else." And like every iconic object, the Opinel pocket knife has its stories behind it. "Pablo Picasso had one and carved his sculpture with it," Camboulives says. "[Legendary French Chef ] Paul Bocuse endorsed the knife. He used to say that if he was going to be dropped on an island and could take only one thing, he would take an Opinel knife with him, and that's all he would need." Today, Opinel builds on that tradition with a range of kitchen and table knives for the dedicated cook, the diner and, now, even children. Le Petit Chef is a set of kitchen cutlery designed to fit small hands and allow them to work safely in the kitchen alongside their parents. Le Petit Chef contains a finger guard, a peeler and a rounded-tip kitchen knife with a ring that helps position the finger so the hand doesn't slip onto the blade. It's such a functional design that children use the safety ring very intuitively, Camboulives says. The set was designed in cooperation with a French culinary school. It retails for $59.95. For the kitchen, Opinel knives include utility and table knives, paring and chef knives and table knives. "That's a side of the business that's growing," Camboulives says. With the chefs knife priced at a suggested retail price of $76.95, the Opinel kitchen knives appeal to American consumers who are looking for high-quality cutlery at price points more attractive than those of the premium blades made in Germany, Camboulives says. "We're right in that bracket, a high-quality French- made knife that's not too expensive." At the International Home + Housewares Show, Opinel will be offering Les Essentials Kitchen Knives "50's," a set of must-have kitchen knives that includes a pantry knife, serrated knife, a vegetable knife and a vegetable peeler. It retails from $54.95. In the same booth, the Opinel Bon Appetit Esprit Loft is Opinel's latest stab at bringing the brand to the table. Neither paring nor steak knife, the Bon Appetit knife is the best of both, Camboulives says. The Loft set of table knives comes with four knives with colored handles: one each in concrete, red, natural and black and retails for $54.95. This brings us back to that legendary folding knife, which will be represented in the booth by the No. 8 Stainless Steel Knife with Beechwood Handle. This stainless steel knife was designed to be an everyday companion for the nature lover, hunter, hiker or fisherman and retails for $14.49. All Opinel cutlery is manufactured in a facility that meets high international standards for environmental protection, with wood for the handles originating on French tree farms rather than wild forest. Even the wood chips left over from the shaping are collected and used as biofuel to heat the factory," Camboulives says. "They recycle everything." Even the packaging is made from recycled materials, and the factory pays attention to its power consumption and to the handling of waste materials. During the International Home + Housewares Show, visit Opinel in booth #S4228. Camboulives will be in Chicago for the show, accompanied by Luc Simon, Opinel's present-day chief executive and Jerome Le Cainec , Export Director. Opinel Knives: Iconic Design and a Heritage of Quality WÜSTHOF is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year with a limited edition knife set that will be introduced to the market during the 2014 International Home + Housewares Show. The limited edition 2014 Anniversary Set is made of distinctive, traditional materials that pay homage to the brand's heritage in creating premium cutler y. The set consists of two precision- forged full-tang knives essential to kitchen prep tasks, a 9" cook's knife and a 3.5" paring knife. Blades are made of high-carbon steel with handles fashioned from rosewood. The highly collectible 2014 Anniversary Set will be available at retail in April at a suggested price of $200, and you can see it at the show in the WÜSTHOF booth #S805. The high-carbon steel straight-edge blades on these knives are designed to be high-performance, both very flexible and highly resilient, and they can be expected to darken in color as they age to a vibrant patina that attests to their experience in the kitchen. The ver y fine-grained structure of this non-alloy steel makes a blade that delivers an extraordinarily fine cut, outstanding sharpness and superior edge retention. The 2014 Anniversary Set knives feature WÜSTHOF 's signature bolster that not only protects fingers but also provides the knives with a solid- balanced heft. The rosewood used in the handle has been dry-stored for at least 25 years in climate-controlled rooms before being turned into a handle that can be expected to stand up to a lifetime of rigorous use. Handles are secured to the blades' tangs with three brass rivets in the traditional method for a quality piece of cutlery. Available in limited edition while supplies last, the 2014 Anniversary Set, like all WÜSTHOF knives, is fully guaranteed to be free of defects in craftsmanship. For further information, visit WÜSTHOF in booth #S805 during the International Home + Housewares Show or visit online at www.WUSTHOF.com. WÜSTHOF Celebrates Bicentennial Year with Limited Edition Knife Set

• Cover