... The Mermaid ...

The past inspires us and we sometimes owe it to particular commissions made to us. We drew this sailor knife for a sailor, just as passionately fond of the ancient arts as of modernity and its high technologies. Conceived as a bridge between these two poles, it is above all the symbol of a team’s body and spirit community, that of a boat, an adventure, that of the” team Gitana”. For us it embodies the Sesame of a more personal and precious encounter, an encounter related to the sea, to the ancient knives and to the given word. Thus it has a special place within our production and in our hearts. We couldn’t find a sailor knife capable of satisfying us completely before. Indeed, many of the sailors’ accessories were regularly lost, falling overboard. As a consequence not much care was given to such pieces whose life expectancy was considered so short. It is what brought us to draw this particular knife, back to front from its usual forms : the handle goes up at its extremity for a better full hand grip. The blade is straight and thick, an efficient shape to neatly cut the ropes using a belaying pin.
The handle’s engravings with marine monsters were inspired by grotesques of the XVIth century found on maritime charts such as that of Sebastian Münster in 1550, or also found on the ceilings of chapels and churches decorated with these phantasmagorical bestiaries arisen from the imagination of the monks so fertile when it came to imagine the creatures of the devil. A mixture of paganism and Christendom.

Les autres modèles The Clouté d’or The Fruitier anglais The Pointe diamant The "À la Capucine" The Pèlerin The Pèlerin Tête de faune The "À la Nacre de perle" The Baroque The "À la Tartare" The Couteau à découper The Couvert pliant The Ebène The Louvre Diamond Points The Médicis The Eustache