P
uukko, the Nordic knife, has traditionally been the most important survival tool in the harsh Arctic environment. It was the one go-to tool everyone carried and it was used for making firewood and kindling, for hunting and fishing, for cleaning the catch – be it fish or game – for cooking and eating, and at the most extreme situations, the knife could be used to defend oneself from the dangers nature had.
No one left home without a knife and everybody learned how to efficiently use one already at young age. There were – and still are – different knives for different users, all matched to the needs and capabilities of the user. And for festive occasions there were decorated knives that could be used as functional accessories for the clothing. The Marttiini story began in 1928 at the land of dark Arctic winters and the summer midnight sun, when blacksmith Janne Marttiini decided to establish a knife factory to Rovaniemi in Finnish Lapland. With the user in mind, he began to create beautiful, high quality knives to be used in the harshest conditions imaginable – knives for people that used them every day and whose life could even depend on the knife. But don’t let the knife’s beauty fool you. The moment you put one to a test, you’ll be convinced it is the perfect tool for your need. You feel the sensation of natural materials like leather, curly birch, reindeer antler, and of course the ultra sharp blade always made from finest steel. Today Marttiini knives are a combination of generations of craftsmanship heritage and modern technology that create knives that are not only sharp, but also perfectly represent the beauty and toughness of the North. They’re called ”puukko” – the Nordic knife.