“I feel very emotional on my occasional trips back to Gévoudaz. The Opinel knife originated there, at the foot of the Aiguilles d’Arves (a trio of needle-like peaks). My great-grandfather, Daniel, built his workshops there, at the outlet of Arvan gorge, just downstream from the Genin coomb, where he could take advantage of the forceful flow of the river current. There were also a number of millers and hemp beaters working there... At the time, the Arvan had not yet been canalised. It was a raging torrent that swelled and overflowed, and they were flooded on a regular basis. Sometimes, up to a metre of water would inundate the smithy’s cellar.
During the Second World War, my parents hid us safely away in the family house on the Arvan. We played with a group of kids from Gévoudaz, all about 13 years old; we used to play in the stream and pick strawberries... My grandfather taught us how to use our knives, how to carve sticks with them and make our own little water mills.”
