The Opinel company has manufactured and marketed a line of eponymous wooden-handled knives since 1890 from its headquarters in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, Savoie, France—where the family-run company also operates a museum dedicated to its knives.
Opinel knives are made of both high carbon and stainless steel, the latter being the highest quality Sandvik steel from Sweden.
Originally sold as a working man's knife, an Opinel knife has become emblematic of French culture, with Pablo Picasso reportedly using one of the company's knives as a sculpting tool. In 1989, the Larousse dictionary cited "Opinel" as a registered trademark—and in the French language, the term "Opinel" has become a genericized trademark to refer to any wood handled folding knife, not necessarily only those made by the Opinel company.