The World of Victorinox: the meaning of Swissness and our Heritage in China

For most of our fans, the little red knife is more than just a multi-tool. The many stories we heard during our recent Swiss Army Knife collectors competition showed us as much. It’s a childhood rite of passage, a gift from a mother or a grandfather. It’s the desire to emulate a hero. It’s the powerful feeling of being prepared that makes these little knives so addictive. These are the stories we heard again and again.

Another theme which came up regularly was just how closely our knives are associated with Switzerland, their country of origin. For a Swiss expatriate living overseas, a Victorinox knife can serve as a reminder of home. For other collectors, the functionality, iconic design and high quality of our pocket knives embody the very essence of Switzerland itself.

One of the most inspiring collections we saw was from Haoran Yang in China, who has curated his own part of our heritage, an impressive collection of rare and vintage knives which has led to him becoming one of China’s most prolific collectors since starting to collect in 2013. For Haoran, the sense of history is part of what makes Victorinox so compelling. Find out more about his collection:

我小時候在雜誌上看到有關瑞士軍刀的文章，但當時在中國卻買不到瑞士軍刀。90 年代後期，中國終於開放販售，我終於買到我的第一把瑞士軍刀，是紅色的經典款。終於能夠擁有我自己的瑞士軍刀，這種喜悅持續了很久，我經常會從口袋中把刀拿出來端詳，然後重複打開刀裡的工具。

2013 年的時候，我發現有許多瑞士軍刀的專門論壇和社交網絡。我發現自己非常喜歡看社群中分享的照片，也很喜歡讀各種不同刀款的故事。就像戀愛一樣！自此，我每天都會用四到六個小時的時間來充實自己的瑞士軍刀知識，現在我擁有大約 2 千把瑞士軍刀，其中包括稀有和古董款式，也有新款。

在中國，大家都非常喜歡精密、實用而且有設計感的產品。我認為這就是為什麼這裡有這麼多瑞士軍刀收藏家的原因。中國的經濟有很大一部分仰賴製造業，我們也研究工業國家，例如瑞士、德國和日本，因為我們喜歡他們產品的品質與精密。

希望各位喜歡 Haoran 收藏的刀。未來幾個月我們將陸續推出他更多驚人的收藏，並也將介紹其他得獎收藏家的收藏品。