The history of OLFA began when its founder, Mr. Yoshio Okada (1931-1990) sought out a solution to blades constantly losing their edge and becoming dull.  
He gathered two key ideas when looking at the sharp cutting edge produced when glass is broken and by the way a chocolate bar breaks off into segments.  

In 1956, Mr. Yoshio Okada invented the world's first SNAP-OFF BLADE CUTTER.  At the beginning, the idea of a blade designed to break seemed to go directly against common sense; Edged tools were not supposed to break or snap.  However, his revolutionary new type of cutting tool was soon welcomed by users because of its superior utility.

The body color of OLFA products was determined to a soft yellow color (similar to egg yolk) in 1957.  This warm color makes the cutter easy to find in a toolbox without scaring users.

The superior quality of OLFA blades is the result of a multistep production process.  Only the finest quality “tool steel” is selected for use.  
 
The length, width and angle of the blade, established by Mr. Y. Okada, have become the worldwide standard for the snap-off blade.