Coutellia · 2027

Agoris analysis · updated October 2026

Key takeaways

• Coutellia, the international festival of art and traditional knives, is the great annual gathering of the cutlery trade in Thiers (Puy-de-Dôme), France's leading cutlery basin. It brings together art knifemakers, manufacturing cutlers and suppliers of raw materials and equipment, in front of an audience mixing trade professionals, collectors and enthusiasts.
• Next edition: the 36th, on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 May 2027, in the Breuil industrial estate, avenue du Progrès, in Thiers.
• Organiser: the CCI Puy-de-Dôme Clermont Auvergne Métropole (the local chamber of commerce and industry), supported by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region, the Puy-de-Dôme Département, the Town of Thiers and the Puy-de-Dôme Chamber of Trades and Crafts, among others.
• Annual rhythm, in May. The event was born in 1991 as a Knife-Show that brought together some sixty exhibitors; the CCI joined in 1993, and the name festival of art and traditional knives dates from 1996.
• For 2027, the organiser is announcing 300 exhibitors from more than 22 countries. Wrap-up of the 2026 edition: 7,200 visitors according to the organiser, stable compared with 2025.
• Professional dimension: suppliers to the trade (steels, Damascus steel, precious woods, horn, machine tools) set up in the main hall, aimed at knifemakers, and, according to the CCI's 2026 wrap-up, a Saturday that was "well attended by professional buyers". This is not a trade-only show: entry is paid and open to everyone.

Who exhibits

Typical profile

The main hall brings together three families of exhibitors: art knifemakers, craftspeople who present and sell one-off or small-series pieces; manufacturing cutlers, the companies of the cutlery industry; and suppliers to the trade, covering raw materials, steels and Damascus steel, precious woods, horn, leather, sheaths, engraving, grinding, polishing and machine tools. A separate area of 100 m², in the heart of the cutlery village, is devoted to antique knives, with seven antique knife collectors according to the 2026 press pack.

The figures announced ahead of the 2026 edition give the order of magnitude: nearly 300 exhibitors, including 200 art knifemakers and manufacturing cutlers and 35 suppliers, from 22 countries, with around 15% of participation from outside France. The May 2026 press release counted 214 registered art knifemakers, against 185 in 2025 (the organiser's sources do not match exactly from one document to another).

Notable exhibitors

The official website's exhibitor search still shows the 2026 list, and registrations for 2027 are not open. A few players are explicitly tied to a dated edition by the official sources:

• Eurotechni, a Thiers-based supplier of steels and supplies for cutlery, moved more than a tonne of steel for Coutellia 2025, according to the 2026 press pack.
• The suppliers 1 Stone, Mercorne and Naniwa were the winners of the Coutellia Innovation Awards 2022, reserved for exhibitors in the "Suppliers" category.
• The Thiers workshops Fontenille Pataud, L'atelier du moment and L'atelier du musée took the podium of the Jobs Knife Challenge 2026.

Quality of the audience

The audience is mixed and the organiser embraces it: its exhibitor brochure describes a festival that brings together "novices, connoisseurs and blade professionals". Collectors carry real weight: the May 2026 press release presents Coutellia as the great gathering of collectors. For the trade, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region sees it as a chance for knifemakers to meet buyers, notably French and foreign resellers.

The organiser reports 7,200 visitors in both 2025 and 2026. No source from the organiser states how they are counted (neither audit nor OJS certification), and the figure does not distinguish professionals from private individuals. A press article relayed by the official website presented the 2025 figure as 7,200 entries over two days: a visitor who came on both Saturday and Sunday may therefore be counted twice.

Events & community

Competitions and awards

The Knife Creation Competition (Concours de création coutelière) is open every year to exhibiting art knifemakers, on a free theme. The online rules announce in particular the Prix Coutellia, worth €1,500 and an enamelled lava trophy, and an audience prize that offers a table for the following edition. In 2026, 42 knives were submitted to the jury, including 11 international creations.

Two team competitions now alternate from one edition to the next:

• The Mondial du Damas, a team forging competition around Damascus steel, created in 2022 and held again in 2023 and 2025. The 2026 wrap-up announces its return in 2027.
• The Jobs Knife Challenge, launched in 2026 for employees of companies and professionals in the cutlery sector: each team assembles three knives in two hours. In 2026, 15 teams took part, judged in particular by four Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (a national craft excellence award).

Cutlery village

Around the hall, the cutlery village hosts activities for the general public: forging demonstrations, knife assembly, corkscrew-making, sharpening demonstrations by the Thiers training centre, and an exhibition of antique knives. The 2027 programme has not yet been published.

Community & networks

The festival is supported by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region, the Puy-de-Dôme Département, the Town of Thiers, the Thiers Dore et Montagne community of communes, the Puy-de-Dôme Chamber of Trades and Crafts, the Livradois-Forez Regional Nature Park, Groupama and Crédit Agricole Centre France. The Confrérie du couteau Le Thiers® is among the partners.

The 2026 press pack mentions, in the editorial by the mayor of Thiers, a move to an association-based structure for this edition, approved by the municipal council, whereas the 2026 press pack and wrap-up still present the CCI as organiser.

For an art knifemaker, Coutellia comes a few days before Révélations, the international biennial of crafts and creation, announced at the Grand Palais from 19 to 23 May 2027.

On site: what you need to know

The festival is set up in the Breuil industrial estate, avenue du Progrès, at the bottom of the town of Thiers. The main hall covers 2,400 m² for art knifemakers, manufacturing cutlers and suppliers; a 100 m² area is reserved for antique knives, in the heart of the cutlery village.

Getting there: the A72 and A89 motorways, exit Thiers-Ouest. Thiers railway station is a 30-minute walk from the show, and Aulnat airport is 30 minutes away by car. During the festival, the Town of Thiers makes its car parks free, and free shuttles link the site to the town centre, the Musée de la Coutellerie (cutlery museum) and the Vallée des Usines.

Conditions displayed for the 2026 edition: Saturday 9am to 6pm, Sunday 10am to 6pm; day ticket €10 including VAT, weekend ticket €15 including VAT, free for under-15s. The ticket also gives access to the Musée de la Coutellerie. The 2027 opening hours and prices have not yet been published.

How much it costs to exhibit

The exhibitor price list is not published on the official website: the registration file is obtained through the exhibitor contact form. The 2026 brochure does, however, detail what is included in registration: for a knifemaker, a 1.20 m by 0.80 m table with tablecloth and two chairs, with an extra table possible; for a supplier, a bare space priced per linear metre. Added to this are cleaning, general lighting, exhibitor parking within the grounds, two meal trays per exhibitor and invitations.

Suppliers also have a demonstration area where they can run their machines and tools in front of the public.

Preparing your visit

For the exhibitor

• Get in touch with the organiser now: registrations for 2027 are not yet open, but the CCI invites prospective exhibitors to contact it.
• For an art knifemaker, tick the registration for the Knife Creation Competition in the application form: it is the festival's main showcase.
• For a supplier, plan for the demonstration area offered to supplier exhibitors to show machines in operation.

For the decision-making visitor

• Come on the Saturday: it is the day the organiser describes as well attended by professional buyers (2026 wrap-up).
• Spot the suppliers of raw materials and tooling in the main hall, and plan how to pay: at the entrance, only cash and bank cards are accepted.
• Complete the visit with the Cité des Couteliers and the Musée de la Coutellerie, accessible with the entry ticket in 2026, to discover the know-how of the industrialists and craftspeople of the Thiers basin.

Policy & CSR initiatives

The festival's website publishes no CSR policy, no carbon footprint assessment and no ISO 20121 certification. The documented measures concern mobility and welcome: free shuttles between the site and the town centre, free car parks decided by the Town of Thiers, and an announced effort to improve the accessibility of the venues and activities for people with disabilities.

On the organiser's side, the website of the CCI Puy-de-Dôme Clermont Auvergne Métropole could not be consulted to check for a CSR programme of its own. The venue, an area of around 2 hectares made available by the Town of Thiers in the Breuil industrial estate, is not run by an events operator publishing an environmental approach.

How the trade show has evolved

Trajectory analysis

Coutellia has changed scale since the Knife-Show of 1991 and its sixty or so exhibitors: the organiser now announces 300. Recent progress shows mainly on the supply side, with 214 art knifemakers registered in 2026 against 185 in 2025, 15% more according to the organiser. Attendance, for its part, holds at around 7,000 to 7,200 according to the organiser since 2023; the official sources do not comment on this plateau.

For an exhibitor, the issue is therefore not volume but the quality of the audience: collectors ready to buy expensive pieces, knifemakers looking for materials and tooling, resellers. The creation of competitions geared to the trades, the Jobs Knife Challenge in 2026 and then the return of the Mondial du Damas in 2027, strengthens the trade dimension of an event whose showcase remains aimed at the general public.

All data that does not mention a source comes from the organiser's website.

Unless otherwise stated, all factual data in this listing comes from the organiser's official website (coutellia.fr).