In 1982, someone decided cheese deserved better.
In the Swiss Jura, Nicolas Crevoisier imagined a simple object. A blade. A spindle. A wooden base. A circular motion that transforms the cheese, creating the first rosette.
This was not an improvement to an existing utensil. It was an invention. A completely new way to enjoy Tête de Moine AOP. In 1982, the invention was patented under number EP0081466A1. La Girolle Originale was born.
Since its invention, La Girolle Originale has found its way onto tables around the world. Every year, millions of Tête de Moine rosettes are created with this now-iconic gesture. To this day, it continues to bring cheese lovers together around the same ritual.
Nicolas Crevoisier, inventor of La Girolle® originale, alongside the technical drawing of his invention, patented in 1982.
There are girolles. And then there is La Girolle®.
Today, other products are also known as girolles. Some look similar. Some work in a similar way.
But only one started it all: the gesture, the ritual, the rosette. Nicolas Crevoisier’s original invention, patented in the Swiss Jura more than forty years ago.
Now regarded as an iconic object, La Girolle Originale has become irreplaceable—not because it is the only one, but because it was the first. The object that created an entirely new category.
An object designed to last
La Girolle Originale is made from maple wood and stainless steel. Its mechanism has remained virtually unchanged since 1982.
The original design simply worked. The blade glides across the surface of the cheese with consistent pressure, creating a delicate, layered texture that releases its aromas differently from an ordinary slice. The maple wood base keeps the cheese stable, while the handle allows for a smooth, precise motion.
Every detail has a purpose. Nothing is superfluous.
Today’s models with wooden handles are also protected by a patent (EP3827944B1), proof that innovation continues to be part of the story of La Girolle Originale.
Forty years of the same gesture
Since 1982, the same circular motion has transformed millions of tastings into memorable moments. In Berlin kitchens and country homes in the Vaud countryside, in Zurich’s fine-dining restaurants and at picnics by Lake Como.
Always the same turn of the hand. Always the same rosette. Always that moment when guests pause for a second before helping themselves.
That is the legacy of an invention that simply got it right. 
And the story doesn’t end here.
Photos, videos and historical documents: The Archives of La Girolle® originale will continue to bring more than forty years of history back to life.
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