I am the “Résiliant”
Born in Thiers, in Auvergne, France, the world capital of the knife.
Having overcome a long and painful illness, I realised how fragile, short and precious life is. I wanted to leave something behind from my time on earth. That is when the idea came to me: to create a knife with a reverse opening.
I had to learn the craft, ignore the mockery and the discouragement, fight against wind and tide. I dug in. Thanks to determination and a few friends from the Thiers region, I am proud to present my work to you.
“What luck for me, a man with no qualifications, who has done a hundred odd jobs!”
People often write it “le résilient”, with an E. The word does come from resilience, but I chose to fix it with an A: Le Résiliant. It became my signature.
“I look for precision, in pursuit of an ideal. I look for the concentration that makes my gesture fluid: just a movement through space, the rasp of the file I no longer hear, my headphones clamped on, the music carrying me. I turn the materials over and over, hunting for the imperfection, the one I wish I could erase from my own soul.”
In the end, I understood that I was searching for myself through my “Résiliants”.
From drawings to templates, from cardboard to metal
Welcomed into a workshop, I set to work. From drawings to templates, from cardboard to plastic to metal, I was closing in on the goal, encouraged by my knifemaker friends and their many years of experience.
Through social media an order arrived, then two, then three: from Belgium, the United States, Switzerland. I quickly decided to change careers. A new registration at the chamber of trades, and off I went. The die was cast, there was no turning back. For once, I had put all my eggs in one basket.
The story of the knife that opens backwards
An adventure covered as far as the local Thiers press.
“I would never have made it through this life-changing adventure without you.”