A.G.A. CAMPOLIN, Page 5

Angelo Campolin Sr. was born in 1923 in Maniago, Italy. Before the Second World War, he perfected his knife-making skills and at this time he produced his first switchblades. After the war, in 1947, he founded his company and produced 30 knives with the "Angelo Campolin" label. Although it was quite far away, he used to cycle to Venice to sell them. After a few years he established a partnership with Mauro Mario, who made knives for the American market for many American importers, including Rosco, C.G. Cutlery, B. Svoboda, C.C.C Cutlery and others. Also, tourists in Venice and Trieste went crazy for this ugly toy! Angelo made instruments in 38 cm and 45 cm sizes. At first they were stilettos with a picklock and later they were redesigned in the style of a revolving bolster. Campolin were the only factory to produce this size in the post-war period. Other sizes were and are made by other manufacturers. In the 1960's they began to introduce other mechanisms including the lock back style. These were first used on switchblade hunting knives and then on some stilettos. It became the most popular release mechanism for locking hunting knives.
In the 1970s, Angelo's son Gianni started working for the company and they specialized in closing hunting knives and also in handheld closing stilettos for the Robert Klaas company in Solingen, Germany with the brand Kissing Cranes. This was the beginning of Falcon Knives, which is still in business today. In 1999, Angelo Jr. started working for the company at the age of 21. He went to the United States for the first time to a knife show in Oregon, where he brought back many quality Falcon closing knives. He also had a love for switchblades and from this show and through the internet he established relationships and friendships with many American collectors. He opened his own business specializing in automatic knives. Some were made by Angelo Sr. and some by other Maniago craftsmen under exclusive contracts. This is how his company, called AKC (Automatic Knives Creations, or Angelo Knives Campolin) was formed.
In 2002, American switchblade collectors Dan Fuller, Brad West and Tim Zinser visited Maniago and enjoyed a few glasses of wine with Angelo Jr. and Gianni at the bar. They discussed a new name for some knife projects they wanted to pursue. It was Brad West who suggested that the brand name of the tang be AGA, for Angelo, Gianni, Angelo, which would represent three generations in knife making. The Campolinos liked it and it stuck. In the beginning it was just a few pieces, but it has grown to the point that there are now 12 models and different scale variations. The goal was to offer quality switchblade knives using old techniques and traditions. Being a collector himself, Angelo Jr. knows what others like.