Design Moment: Swiss Army Knife, 1891

The massive change in airport security regulations after September 11th, 2001, saw an immediate dip in the sales of that long-time travellers’ friend: the Swiss Army Knife.

Victorinox’s multi-purpose tool typically includes a tweezers, a fiddly scissors, a bottle opener and a choice of mini-knives, just the sort of things every holidaymaker would find a use for – and all fall foul of the ban on sharp items on-board.

Karl Elsener – his descendants still run the company – launched his knife-making company in 1884, later naming it after his mother, Victoria, and “inox” a term for stainless steel. Based in Ibach, Switzerland, its logo, the white cross in a red crest, simply announces its origins. In 1891 he began supplying the Swiss army with folding pocket “soldier knives” – plain steel cased for soldiers, red for officers – and with just four elements. Elsener, who had started his career making surgical implements, devised a spring mechanism that allowed him to include multiple attachments – offering over the decades a massive choice of options.

The company later won contracts to supply many armies and even Nasa with pocketknives. While the Swiss Army Knife is used as a generic for folding pocket knives, it can be applied only to those made by Victorinox and another Swiss company Wenger (which was bought by Victorinox in 2005). Sales in its knives recovered slowly from that one-third dip following 9/11, and the company has diversified into a range of other lifestyle products under its prestige logo.