Maison du Gruyère, who markets Gruyère® AOP cheese all over the world, asked students in Product Design from HEAD − Genève, Geneva School of Art and Design, to come up with a sturdy yet handy knife design with an accompanying cheese board, embodying the DNA of Gruyère® AOP – Switzerland. The knife will be a symbol of the long-standing tradition of Gruyère® cheese and be used and sold during fairs and cheese tasting events.
Gruyère® is a particularly hard cheese. Its recipe has been handed down through many generations of cheesemakers both in alpine and village dairies in the Fribourg region of Switzerland. Its production goes as far back as 1115 and it is still being manufactured by cheese makers in small dairies to this day. It is considered the king of cheeses in Western Switzerland, whether served with bread and wine or used to make our delicious fondue.
Under the guidance of internationally-renowned product designer Claudio Colucci, fourteen students came up with several designs. They followed a workshop in two parts, spending one week designing the concept and another producing their prototype. The only specification was to imagine innovative ways of handling the knife, with complete freedom as to the materials to be used. Gruyère then preselected four products in association with Swiza who brought their technical expertise to the project.
Thomas Manil’s project was selected as the winner and his knife was manufactured by Swiza, the Jura-based makers of Swiss knives and clocks since 1904. Thomas Manil came up with a small round knife design whose protective cover doubles up as a board to cut typically rectangular slices of Gruyère®. The knife is small enough to fit in a handbag or backpack for a picnic.
His project was deemed to best represent Gruyère’s identity. The Maison appreciated the fact that the design was reminiscent of the cheese wheel and the knife had the same shape as the real knife which professional cheese makers traditionally use. From an ergonomic point of view, the big handle was an advantage in this project and the large blade allowed easier cutting of the cheese.
The pictures of the winning project and of a selection of prototypes shown in Milan follow.
Projects by second-year BA students in Product Design:
Fanny Aigroz, Yesmine Ben Ayed, Léa Breysse, Mélissa Café, Lou Chartres, Sarah Durrafourg, Loïc Fankhauser, Lucile Francony, Emilie Heger, Margaux Koch, Thomas Manil, Alexandre Marin Landry, Bérénice Noël, Florian Wicki
Workshop led by Claudio Colucci.
