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© Tobias Westen
© Filip Zuan
© Filip Zuan
© Martina Rominger

Roger Rominger

  • Fuschina
  • Knife maker
  • Fex, Switzerland
  • Master Artisan
Roger Rominger Knife maker
Contact
German, Italian, Romansh
Hours:
By appointment only
Phone:
+41 796977882
© Filip Zuan

Forging blades

  • • Roger is reclaiming the declining knife-making tradition of Switzerland
  • • His workshop is at the family farm
  • • Patience, passion and craftsmanship are his key attributes

Born in Samedan, the heart of the alpine Engadin region of Switzerland, Roger Rominger is a true native. His fascination in knives was present from his childhood, but it was compounded one day when he spotted a stone with a damask pattern lying under his favourite mountain, the Piz Tremoggia. It was in this moment that he decided to become a knife maker. His formal training involved working as a blacksmith and farrier, he expanded the knowledge he acquired there with the help of books, films and by doing. Since 2009, he has been making Damascus knives in his rustic workshop on the family farm where horns decorate the stone walls and an anvil is the centre piece. He and his wife now run "Chesa Rominger" together. What many might find surprising about his knives is “how elaborate it is to make a knife and how much metallurgy goes into it.”

Read the full interview

Works

  • © Martina Rominger
  • © Martina Rominger
  • © Martina Rominger
  • © Martina Rominger
  • © Martina Rominger
Photo: © Martina Rominger
Lake Sils

This knife, named Lake Sils (or "Lej da Segl") is made of twisted Damascus steel by Swiss craftsman Roger Rominger. The blade features his typical watery light and dark metal pattern. The handle is made of local larch, which he has stabilised with an ebony ferrule.

Length 30 cm

Photo: © Martina Rominger
Black Lake

The dark blade of the Black Lake (or "Lej Nair") Damascus knife is intended to reflect the Lej Nair lake in the Swiss Engadin valley. A noble chef's knife with desert ironwood handle scales, the steel was worked in a way that looks like water in movement.

Length 30 cm

Photo: © Martina Rominger
The Grison Knife

This knife, the Grison (or "Il curtè grischunais") is made by Roger Rominger out of wild performance damascus. It is a leisure knife with handle made of stabilised larch, which is attached to the tang with screw rivets and a mosaic pin.

Length 24 cm

Photo: © Martina Rominger
Snow under a blue sky

This special Damascus knife is meant to represent the beautiful Swiss alpine landscape in winter, the local name given to the knife is "Naiv suot tschêl blov". The blue coloured handle scales represent the sky, the stag horn ferrule represents the snow and the blade the mountains.

Length 32 cm

Photo: © Martina Rominger
Side valleys

This Roger Rominger piece, Side valleys (or "Vals laterelas") is made of tosion Damascus in San-Mai construction. The handle is made of a dark brown desert ironwood. The blade is supposed to represent the Engadin with its rocky side valleys.

Length 30 cm

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