So many success stories have started over dinner and drinks it’s almost become ubiquitous, but we’ve got a good one. This is the story of the mouse that roared. “The inspiration for starting GiantMouse came over dinner and drinks one night when we started discussing the knife industry, and how knife designers license their designs to the large knife brands,” the company’s CEO Jim Wirth tells Handgunner. This was a big deal because his two soon-to-be partners in GiantMouse were two of Europe’s hottest knifemakers and designers. Danish artisans Jens Ansø and Jesper Voxnaes had already taken the U.S. cutlery world by storm by way of a rabid social media presence and a multitude of collaborations with noted knife manufacturers Böker, Kershaw and Columbia River Knife & Tool (CRKT).
“Jens and Jesper had talked about starting a business together several times over the years prior to our deciding to create GiantMouse,” Wirth notes. “They always came to the conclusion they were both too busy with their own design work and custom knife making to run a new company. When they explained this to me, I said I had time on my hands and experience starting and running a business, having retired early in 2006 after a successful exit from a company I co-founded in 1995. So, it just all fell into place I’d launch and run the business in the U.S.A. with all of our designs coming from the two of them in Denmark. Hence our slogan, “Danish Design, American Spirit!”
“GiantMouse was a name Jens and Jesper had tossed around themselves during their prior discussions about launching a company,” Jim adds. “Their reasoning for the name was, besides being catchy and fun, Denmark is a tiny country but is a giant in the world for their legendary Scandinavian and Danish design. We all agreed the name also played well for our new company in the knife industry, as we would be a small boutique brand in a giant industry. We agreed we could start a brand that turns the standard model on its head and provides high-quality innovative designs at fair prices as a boutique knife brand while having fun working together as friends and partners.”