The dumbing down of the Laguiole name

[shelly59]

Darn, I was just about to order the Laguiole cutlery from Wine Enthusiast when I thought I would see what Egulleteers had to say about it.

Its rather pricey, well, to me anyway. But my grandmother had a set of it, which I loved and would very much like to replicate. Should I just save my money Hate to think I am plunking down good money for poor quality goods.

Edited February 2, 2007 by shelly59 (log)

[Fat Guy]

Shelly, it's hard to tell for sure from those photos, but the stainless Laguiole knives they're advertising here -- http://www.wineenthusiast.com/E/details.as...%2D1A81AFA6A88A -- look exactly (right down to the angle of the slots in the wooden box) like the set of knives I bought on sale at Macy's that gave rise to this topic.

A few years ago, Ellen and I were in a small city in France waiting around for a couple of days for some culinary happening or another, and we noticed the town had an incredible number of shops selling Laguiole folding knives. This was nowhere near Laguiole -- we were in Besancon -- but they sure did have a lot of knives in that town (and also a lot of eyeglasses shops).

So, after shopping around, we picked three specimens. These were (and still are) gorgeous, hand-made, very high quality knives. The mechanisms are so smooth. They have intricate guillochage (filework on the back side of the blade) and impressive heft. They were expensive too -- even at the absurdly advantageous 7:1 exchange rate at the time, they were about a hundred bucks a piece.

To look at the stainless knives I got at Macy's and to compare them to the ones I got in France, well, it's just a joke. I like the stainless knives fine, but they're machine-made, mediocre-quality knives. I use them, they have utility, they even look pretty nice, but they're not objects of beauty. Not even close.

[shelly59]

Thanks much, Fat Guy.

Hmm, I should have specified that I was looking at the Ivory flatware.

http://www.wineenthusiast.com/E/details.as...9A-1A81AFA6A88A

Damn...now its ALL suspect. Thinking hard on it now, I suspect my Grandmother's few bits were bakelite as I cannot imagine where she would have come up with the Laguiole, but the Laguiole shown at Willams-Sonoma, Wine Enthusiast and Chefs.com are identical to what I remember using as a child.

Well, I shall just have to keep looking..not about to spend nearly $200 on crap or bad imitations of what was once good stuff.

[Fat Guy]

As a couple of folks have pointed out, it's not that all Laguiole-labeled products are now bad. It's just that caveat emptor now applies more than ever before. One warning sign with the Wine Enthusiast stuff is that they don't seem to say which manufacturer is actually making their stuff. Without that knowledge, there's no safe way to proceed. Once you know the manufacturer, it becomes possible to do a little research.

[shelly59]

Your comments are noted and greatly appreciated

[Zelaza]

This is an old post but it's about something that I'm interested in and which has been in the (French) news a bit lately, so I thought I'd light it up again.

 

As has been alluded to in this thread, Laguiole is a small village in the Department of Aveyron, in an area known as the Aubrac region. Laguiole was the birthplace of the legendary Laguiole folding knife that was originally designed for herdsmen and later adapted for more domestic applications. In 1993 a French businessman named Gilbert Szajner noticed that the word "Laguiole" had never been trademarked, and he took advantage of that situation by trademarking the word "Laguiole" in a number of countries, licensing it to manufacturers of all kinds of products all over the world, and vigorously defending his exclusive rights to it in courts all over the world. As a result, the market has become full of products, including knives and other kinds of cutlery, that are marked "Laguiole" but are not manufactured in or near Laguiole and are not made in accordance with the artisanal traditions of the region. These so-called "Laguiole" knives range from decent quality down to absolute junk.

 

In 2005 the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) granted Szajner an EU-wide trademark for the word "Laguiole" in conjunction with a large number of product types, including knives and cutlery. Subsequently, Forge de Laguiole, one of the few cutlers still located within the boundaries of Laguiole, contested that decision and in 2011 the EUIPO annulled (cancelled) Szajner's EU trademark for all products except, believe it or not, telecommunications services. Szajner appealed that cancellation to the EU General Court, and in 2014 that court restored Szajner's trademark for all products except knives and cutlery. The EUIPO and Forge de Laguiole appealed that partial restoration in the European Court of Justice (the EU high court) and the EU high court rejected EUIPO's appeal and confirmed the decision of the EU General Court. So, at this point Szajner still holds an EU trademark on the word "Laguiole" for products other than knives and cutlery - it remains to be seen where the legal battles over the word "Laguiole" will go in the future, in the EU or in other jurisdictions...

 

The good news is you can still get a "real" Laguiole knife, where "real" means a beautiful, heirloom-quality knife, made by hand, in the vicinity of Laguiole, with extremely high standards of quality for materials and workmanship. Two of the best manufacturers of "real" Laguiole cutlery are Forge de Laguiole and Laguiole en Aubrac.  In the US you can buy a wide variety of Forge de Laguiole knives (folding knives as well as kitchen and table cutlery) from their US distributor. Laguiole en Aubrac products are a little bit harder to find, but you can find a good selection of Laguiole steak knives, cheese knives, and corkscrews at Occitan Imports.

 

Edited November 12, 2017 by Zelaza (log)