Coutellia Thiers 2019

Text and pictures Bas Martens

 

It really doesn’t matter whether you are a knife maker meeting with clients; whether you are looking to buy steel, wood, leather or exotic knife-making materials; whether you want to find a book on edged weapons; whether you are a collector of old or modern blades; or whether you just love knives and knife makers: the Coutellia in Thiers has it all.
Coutellia calls itself an international festival for traditional and art knives and that sums it up pretty well. We cannot think of another European knife show which is so big and diverse.

For almost three decades, Coutellia has been the yearly centre of the European ‘knife season’. This year’s edition featured 230 exhibitors from 18 different countries and had an all-time high of 6600 visitors, which shows that Coutellia keeps improving. The majority of the exhibitors are knife makers and suppliers of knife making materials, but the adjacent ‘Village coutellier’ (cutlery village) has more to offer: a forging experience, a tent with collector’s knives, exhibitions and demonstrations of razors and corkscrews, scrimshaw demonstrations and a cutting contest. The city of Albacete, the Spanish counterpart of Thiers, had a separate place to present itself, showing for instance the remarkable way in which street vendors sold knives.
The 2019 edition had two special guests: American knife maker Joe Keeslar (a participant at Coutellia for over 20 years) as the president of the Jury, and famous singer and knife lover Florent Pagny, who took his time to look around and even bought some knives.

 

    

 

As per usual, the Coutellia held a ‘Concours’ for the knife makers, with almost 30 contestants. The prize winners were:
1- Prix Coutellia: Alexander Cheburkov with his ‘Russian Fairy Tales’;
2- Prix du Jury: Giuseppe Pala with his ‘Bronte Bianco’;
3- Prix de Public: Pascale Sabaté with her ‘Orange Méchanique’, which is pictured on the cover of this issue.

In 2020 Coutellia will have a special treat. The festival celebrates its 30th anniversary, and on that occasion, it will be three days instead of two. Coutellia 2020 will be held on May 22, 23 and 24 and will feature some special attractions, like a Damascus forging competition. European Blades Mag. will keep you informed but you can also have a look at www.coutellia.fr.
 
 
Vladimir Gerasimov (centre), his wife Svetlana and son Yuri with their Zladinox company at Coutellia.

The next issue of European Blades Mag will have an article on our visit to Zladinox.
 
   
Left: The city of Albacete had a special presentation in Thiers, showing the way in which street vendors used

Right: The ‘Association de preservation du Patrimoine Coutelier’ (Association for the preservation of the cutlery heritage) demonstrated several ancient knife-making tools.
 

A fixed blade by French knife maker Nicolas Dartus. At the recent Blade Show, Dartus was accepted as Journeyman Smith by the American Bladesmith Society. The steel of this knife is XC100, the handle is

curly birch.
 

Frenchmen Denis Lagarde (Atelier 5.96) presented this ‘12A Péro’. The name refers to Apéro, which in

 

The ‘Orange Mécanique’ by French maker Pascale Sabaté. Her elegant folding knife won the Prix du Public

 

 

The ‘Navette’ (shuttle) by French maker Adrien Vautrin. The knife has four tools. The blade is made from

 

 

Nicolas Kowal from La Forge K made this ‘Hulotte +’, which translates as servant or helper. The blade is

RWL34, the handle is black Micarta.
 

A camp knife by French maker Silvain Dixneuf. The blade is mosaic Damascus, the handle is made from

 

 

A linerlock folding knife by French maker Gregory Picard. The 80 mm blade is made from C120 steel

 

A linerlock folding knife by Joël Grandjean. The blade is RWL34, the liners are titanium and the handles

 

French knife maker Franck Souville is very successful with his model ‘Bad Guy’. This one has an RWL

 

The ‘Névé’ by French knife maker Tim Bernard (Atelier Névé). The blade is 14C28N steel, the handle is

 

French knife maker Adrien Giovaninetti has created this model ‘Lombard’. The blade is Damask, the

 

The ‘Golden Sunset’ by Italian Master knife maker and goldsmith Daniele Ibba. The blade is Damascus

yellow diamonds. The opened knife measures 18 cm.
 

The ‘Pirate’ by French maker Julien Vergnaud. The blade of the 20 cm long knife is white paper steel. The

 

The ‘Dragons’ by Swedish knife maker Andre Rybak. The blade is Damascus from Michael Styrefors,

 

 

A slip joint folding knife by French maker Louis Blanchet Kapnist. The blade is home-made 90MCV8 / 15N20 Damascus. The handle has Inox bolsters, Z40 liners and Ebony scales.

 

The ‘Milan’ by Coutellerie d’Art J. Mongin. The blade of this folding knife is Z40Cr13 steel.

 

The ‘Ouvéa’ by French knife maker Sophie Fauré (Atelier Bois de Sophie). The blade is XC75 / 90MCV9

 

French knife maker Julien Maria made this ‘Mesclun’. The slip-joint folding knife has a XC75 / 15N20

Damascus blade and Carbon Fibre handle.
 

The ‘Virgule’ (Comma) by French maker Philippe Soeuvre. The liner lock folding knife has bolsters and

17.5 cm.
 

French knife maker Franck Herpin presented this hunting / outdoor knife. The 23 cm blade is made from

 

The ‘Kamino’ bij French knife maker Michel Grini. The liner lock folding knife has a XC100 blade and

titanium liners. The handles are made from stabilised burr walnut.
 

French knife maker Guy Poggetti (Forge de Sparus) presented this impressive knife with a 21 cm

selectively hardened blade from C130 steel. The handles are stabilised Koa.
 

The ‘Oryx’ by French knife maker Jean-Luc Soubeyras (Couleurs de Forge). The 26.5 cm blade is

 

 

 

 

the shape of a Templar’s Cross. The spring and spacer have extensive file work.