Vento Dual Flipper

Famin, Patrick

My name is Patrick Famin and I was born in France in 1961. When I was a small boy the famous "Laguiole" knife started my passion, and so by the age of 7 I had started my knife collection. My collection grew over the years and I have one hundred well known pieces. I studied computer science and made a career in computer hardware, software and graphic design. As destiny would have it, I met one of the best custom knife makers in France, Christian Avakian, during a knife show. On the advice of my wife I decided to do an internship with him in 2007. In those months with Christian Avakian, everything fell into place as I discovered my real potential and passion for making custom knives.Since this exceptional training, I invested in the machinery and materials needed to make my own Damascus and knives. Little by little I found my style and now make everything by hand myself; forged my blades and my own Damascus. By 2008 I invented a new automatic dual action opening mechanism, the CLIPART, with my own design and Damascus. This design attracted many collectors, and journalists who wrote about my design and me in their magazines, which had won a prize during a knife show. This was the trigger that really started my career as a blacksmith and knife maker/designer. Every knife achieved since is unique in both the design and the choice of materials; each one with my detailed automatic double action mechanism, assisted opening.