The historic building housing the Opinel Museum was built in 1932 by Jean Opinel, a blacksmith and coppersmith like his brother Joseph, the creator of the famous pocket knife.
After leaving their original hamlet of Gevoudaz in the Arvan valley at the beginning of the 20th century, Jean, his son Daniel and then his grandson Jacques manufactured tools and knives in the Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne workshop until 1973 under the Croix de Savoie brand.
From 1973 to 1985, the building served as an annex to the Opinel company, which had already been established on the outskirts of Chambéry since 1915.
In 1989, Jacques Opinel, Joseph’s grand-nephew, transformed the Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne site into a free private museum retracing the history of the Opinel®.
In 2012, the renewal of the museum was launched under the impetus of the Opinel company and Maxime Opinel, Jacques’ son, with the completion of a first phase of extension and renovation work accompanied by a new museography in 2013.
The museum was enlarged again in 2018 to provide an even more comfortable home for the 50,000 annual visitors and to offer temporary exhibitions.
