the knifeless man is a lifeless man . . .

“the knifeless man is a lifeless man.” is a nordic proverb from the *faroe islands:
“knívleysur maður er lívleysur (maður)” . . .

in addition, did you know that the word “finka” in russian means a very sharp knife & also, a finnish woman . . .

well, being a big fan of finnish designer, tapio wirkkala, i discovered finnish and other scandinavian knives when i was in my late twenties, mostly through books on design and craft. in the spring of this year, abitare magazine covered an interesting venue in finland at the design forum: the sámi knife II exhibition.
here’s a link and a visual excerpt from the exhibit.

more about the design forum finland, the sámi knife II exhibit

design forum finland’s website

here’s the link from the may 2010 abitare article, about the exhibit, called:
2010 leuku: a knife for all seasons

here too is a link from the new york times from september 2010:
men’s fashion: blade runners

the four images above are from a conceptual project by thilo alex brunner (born in biel / bienne, switzerland), from 2009, of possible new interpretations of the 1961 classical swiss army knife, for the swiss manufacturer wenger, (delémont, switzerland). here’s also a link with more images to his website:

wenger, the certain something

however something must be going on currently in the heads of museum curators. for a long time, there’s been a strong tradition in the alps of central europe that a knife is the most basic tool for survival. still, it’s probably no coincidence that from july until october 2010, the swiss national museum in zurich had an exhibit called: the swiss army knife, a tool becomes a cult icon: the swiss army knife

exhibit: the swiss army knife at the national museum,
zurich, switzerland from july through october 2010

also, a link to the design museum’s reference to the exhibit, via the poster:
das sackmesser: ein werkzeug wird kult, schweizerisches nationalmuseum, zürich

last but not least, if you have found this to be interesting,
you might also want to look at an earlier post about swiss army knives:
an everyday utilitarian object: the swiss army knife

* (faroese: føroyar, danish: færøerne) are an island group situated between the norwegian sea and the north atlantic ocean, approximately halfway between great britain and iceland. the faroe Islands are a constituent country of the kingdom of denmark, along with denmark proper and greenland. the faroe islands have been an autonomous province of the kingdom of denmark since 1948.