The Laguiole knife (, locally ) is a traditional Occitan pocketknife, originally produced in the "knife city" of Thiers, source of 70% of France's cutting tool production, as well as the small village of Laguiole, both located in the Massif central region of France. Laguiole in this instance does not refer to the French knife brand but to a generic type of traditional slipjoint knife associated with this region of France. History The major influence on the form of the classic laguiole is most likely the Arabo-Hispanic clasp knife of Andalusian Spain, the navaja. The laguiole was first designed in 1829 by Jean-Pierre Calmels. The earliest forms of laguiole knife were straight-bladed and handled, the so-called laguiole droit; the classic navaja-like laguiole seems to have been developed around 1860. The Calmels laguiole droit had a 'half-lock' on the blade where a small projection on the end of the backspring (mouche) exerts pressure on a corresponding indent in the heel of blade when the knife is open; this, and not the full locking system of the navaja, remained a fixed feature in subsequent laguiole knives. Seasonal migrations of shepherds and cattle herders between Catalan Spain and southern France in summer and winter introduced the navaja to France. The Arabo-Hispanic design of the navaja was merged with that of local folding knives represented by older patterns such as the laguiole droit and Capuchadou; the result became the classic laguiole. In 1840, the first awl or trocar (a surgical instrument used to puncture body cavities and relieve the suffering of cattle and other animals with bloat) was added to the some laguiole knife patterns. In 1880, some models of the laguiole began featuring a corkscrew, in response to demands from the owners of bars in the Auvergne, and restaurants in Paris. Design Classic laguiole knives feature a slim, sinuous outline. They are about 12 cm long when closed, with a narrow, tapered blade of a semi-yataghan form, steel backspring (slipjoint) and a high quality of construction. Traditionally, the handle was made of cattle horn; however, nowadays other materials are sometimes used. These materials include French woods, exotic woods from all around the world, and fossilised mammoth ivory from Alaska or Siberia. The French designer Philippe Starck re-designed laguiole knives using aluminium for the grips, but it was only a revival of a 1910 model. The blade is often made of Stainless steel or