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Urban HUSKY Designed to Impress But Not Intimidate

September 8, 2016

“A lot of people we know find folding knives are too big and offensive looking,” says Joel Andersson, one half of the award-winning Swedish design team Andersson Copra. The team debuted their first production folding knife on Kickstarter this week. Called the HUSKY, it is a sleek, streamlined friction folder designed to be an attractive and useful working knife that won’t raise eyebrows in an urban setting.

The Husky is a departure from the Japanese-inspired kitchen knives Anderson Copra is accustomed to making out of their Gothenburg, Sweden workshop. Andersson and his partner Adisa Copra say they saw an opportunity for a less aggressive pocket knife design. City-dwellers want to carry a knife, but must adhere to knife-at-work policies, stricter knife laws in cities, and consider the perspective of coworkers, family, and friends who may not be comfortable around tactical folding knives.

The harsh knife laws prevalent in Sweden and across Europe were particularly influential in the design. “In Sweden and many European countries knife laws are restrictive,” Andersson tells us. “The blade length, the appearance/purpose and a non-locking mechanism is the main criteria for legal carry.”

Urban HUSKY

With a total of just five components, the Urban HUSKY hearkens back to old penny knives and peasant folders that can be found all around the world, like the Higonokami or the Opinel. The 3” modified wharncliffe blade is non-knife person-friendly without sacrificing utility. For blade steel Andersson Copra chose UHB 20C, an easy to maintain European equivalent of 1095.

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The duo were recently selected by IKEA and other influential forces in Swedish design to participate in the Ung Svengsk Form, a prestigious honor bestowed upon the country’s most promising young designers. The Urban HUSKY is a knife that Andersson Copra say they are proud to offer after years of private testing. “This model is the one that has stuck with us and that we feel we want to share with other knife enthusiasts.”

Knife featured in image: Urban HUSKY Kickstarter Knife

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