Fabulous French Artisans

Our annual year-end salute to the extraordinary artisans of France, whose craftsmanship and passion for their work represent centuries of tradition—those here are only a small sample of the prodigious wealth of French savoir-faire.

YANN MAROT Tourneur sur Bois

Night classes in sculpture led Yann Marot to discover his passion for woodturning and, after apprenticeships with a number of well-known professionals, he opened his own atelier in 2002, in the village of Aubepierre, north of Limoges, in the Limousin region of central France. Woodturning is the art of creating wooden objects on a lathe—the wood spins while a tool, held stationary, shapes it. The basic technique has been practiced since the early Egyptian era and developed over the centuries, progressing from the pedal-operated lathes of the Middle Ages to the machine tools of the industrial era. But by the mid-20th century woodturning by hand had almost completely disappeared in France, and it owes its current modest renaissance to dedicated artisans like Marot. Exacting and hazardous, the work requires a thorough knowledge of wood and complete mastery of the tools and multiple techniques—spindle turning, faceplate turning, green woodturning, ornamental turning, gouging, skewing and much more.

Marot divides his time between classic tournage à façon, making furniture and its component parts—table legs, balusters, frames—and creating his own original works, including decorative bowls, vases and objets d’art. The first requires “great technical rigor”, he says, and the second “allows me to let myself go towards more personal imagination”. Among those imaginative works: a series of exquisite golden oak bowls and vases with a remarkable “corded” decor, and two associated sets of decorative containers in striated, brushed beechwood—the conical Three Brigands and the round, delicately pointed-top Girlfriends of the Three Brigands.

Marot also offers classes for individuals or groups of two or three, for one- or five-day programs, or multiple weeks of professional-level training for both beginners and advanced apprentices.

39 lieu-dit Aubepierre, Azerables, 05.55.63.02.14. website

 

MARIE DAÂGE Peintre sur Porcelaine

French artist and designer Marie Daâge compares the complementary shapes, colors and patterns of her hand-painted porcelain to a mix-and-match wardrobe for the table. “People should look at dressing their table like they dress themselves,” she says. “To have one dinner service is like saying you have only one party dress. My collections are designed so you can play with different styles and colors.” By creating two new collections a year, each with three or four different motifs, Daâge now has a catalog of some 80 patterns in myriad shapes and shades. Her original designs are hand-painted on Limoges porcelain in six French ateliers, three in Limoges and three in the Paris region.

Some of her decors are brushstroke sketches: The captivating, pagoda-hatted Chinese boy of her Indes Galantes series swings on a rope; charming foxes and stags gambol across the new Territoire line; Klimt is contemporary, a minimalist take on the Viennese painter’s Art Nouveau whorls and swirls. The new Jardins d’Udaïpur set was inspired by the exotic 16th-century palace gardens of Prince Udaï Singh. Other motifs are geometric. “My decors are really timeless,” she says. “Their roots are in the past, but they are interpreted in a modern manner.” The Palmyre pattern is “a thoroughly modern acanthus leaf,” she says, and her signature wide stripes are an updated variation on a French Empire theme.

An example of her mix-and-match concept: “Choose two colors of dinner plates, say a Transat stripe in taupe and Bamboo in cactus green. Then, you can constantly transform your table by using smaller dishes like fashion accessories. If you started with dessert plates in taupe Palmyre, later you could add some in this year’s chic yellow.”

Daâge now has her own corners in Printemps and the Bon Marché department stores in Paris and Bergdorf’s in New York, along with a large private decorator clientele. “All designs come in every color,” she says, “so it’s almost impossible for any two clients to end up with the same exact service. It’s haute couture for the table.”

14 rue Portalis,Paris 8th, 01.44.90.01.36. website

 

LAURENCE RUET Sculpteur des Poupées

“It’s always been hard for me to explain why I work in this type of sculpture, rather than in other forms of art,” says Laurence Ruet. “I have never really found the answer to that question. I’m self-taught, I function mostly by instinct, and I try to provide an element of emotion for those who regard my work.” Among those emotions is certainly great pleasure, and a full measure of amazement at the hyperrealistic dolls Ruet sculpts in polymer resin, each one unique, each designed and dressed entirely by hand.

Ruet’s dolls range from newborn infants—including a baby angel with wings—to kindergarten age. Their sizes range from ” mini-bébés” starting at some eight inches long to a nearly life-size 22 inches tall.

All are individually shaped by hand in malleable polymer resin, and then fired in an oven, like ceramics. There are no molds, so copies are impossible—even Ruet herself cannot make an exact copy of any of her dolls. The faces, arms and legs are painted in acrylic, the eyes are glass, the hair is mohair or, in some instances, real hair, and Ruet makes all the clothing, accessories and even the shoes herself. She has a predilection for freckles—they add to the lifelike impression, she says—and although she has made many redheads in the past, she currently favors brunettes. It takes about two weeks for Ruet to complete a new doll, although the time varies a lot: “the facial expression is the hardest—sometimes it can take days to get the right expression.” Most of her dolls are timeless and dressed in classic clothing, although one delightful boy and girl made in 2005 were inspired by the children in the celebrated 1940s and 1950s photos of Robert Doisneau. And many of her dolls hold their own small dolls or teddy bears.

Ruet’s dolls are not toys, however, but collectors’ items, each signed with her initials. They are shown at certain artisans’ exhibits and on Ruet’s website, and are available only directly from the artist, who is based in Dijon.

Prices range from about €450 to €1600. 03.80.70.96.21. website

 

BASTIEN CARRÉ Lumigraphe

The French word that perfectly describes Bastien Carré’s work is féerique. Meaning magical or enchanting—literally, fairylike—it’s a marvelous description for Carré’s mobiles, suspension lights, sculptures and pictures composed of tiny, starry points of light connected with the finest of wires.

Carré refers to himself as a lumigraphe and his work as lumigraphie, from lumière (light) and graphe, a figure composed of linked points. A native of Aix-en-Provence, Carré studied design in Paris and spent two years in Sweden, where he missed the bright lumière of Provence so much that he started using light in his designs. He began by crafting furniture, such as coffee tables, with embedded light effects, but soon started using light as a raw material in unique objets d’art. Taking advantage of recent technological advances, Carré uses state-of-the-art LEDs that consume very little energy and last for dozens of years. His genius lies in making the electrical source nearly invisible and in using the fine steel threads that conduct the current as structural design elements. His sculptures and chandeliers are all handmade—either unique pieces or numbered, limited edition series with never more than eight examples of any one design. Some require hand-soldering more than a hundred tiny LEDs to extremely fine wires. Carré’s imagination transforms these high-tech elements into delicately beautiful artworks that surge from the wall, swoop from the ceiling, or sparkle on a freestanding base, evoking images from butterflies and birds to fountains, waves, rainbows and fireworks. Carré, whose atelier in the Aveyron is open to the public, also displays his work at galleries in Saint-Tropez and Belgium as well as at the Talents boutique in Paris.

Espace Lapérouse, Sauveterre-de-Rouergue, 05.65.46.51.09. website; Talents Opéra: 1 bis rue Scribe, 9th. 01.40.17.98.38. website

 

SERGE AMORUSO Maroquinier

The table in Serge Amoruso’s Paris atelier is piled with supple, brilliantly colored skins: calfskin,crocodile, sharkskin, ostrich and other exotics including galuchat, or shagreen, the surprisingly beautiful,pebbled skin of the stingray. They come in shades of rose, turquoise, tangerine, emerald green and violet, and all are destined to be hand cut, hand stitched and otherwise transformed into the most desirable of custom-made briefcases, handbags, valises and other beautifully designed leather objets.

Amoruso began his career by studying sellerie, or saddlery, and worked for eight years crafting luxury leather goods at Hermès. He opened his first shop in the Marais and is now near the Viaduc des Arts, where he works mostly on custom orders. A small selection of ready-made items is also available.

More than a fine leatherworker, Amoruso is a designer who turns his hand to all sorts of projects—an exquisite little folding knife with a damascene blade and shagreen inset in the handle, a shagreen cigar holder, a chocolate storage cabinet with compartments lined in gold leaf designed for chocolatier Jean-Paul Hévin. He’s known for audacious colors—a black billfold opens to a scarlet interior, an orange handbag is trimmed in turquoise; a slim wallet comes in lilac lined with pistachio. He sometimes incorporates bamboo, ebony or rosewood into his designs; other materials that add a touch of the unexpected are titanium, fossilized mammoth tusk, and pieces of meteorite, polished to a silvery sheen and fashioned into a zipper pull. “Imagine—you put your hand on this and you are touching a star. It makes you dream…”

Passionate about his craft, Amoruso welcomes challenges—he covered two elevators for Monaco’s Port Palace hotel in sea-colored shagreen, and “would love to cover an entire wall in galuchat some day.” In November Amoruso was named a Maître d’Art by France’s Ministry of Culture. Designed to recognize masters of traditional savoir-faire, the title is awarded for life, designating the recipient as one of the country’s “living treasures”.

13 rue Abel, Paris 12th. 01.43.45.14.10.

 

ÉTIENNE DULIN Dinandier

Etienne Dulin makes gorgeous copper pots, bowls, pepper mills, mustard dishes, skillets, omelet pans, cake molds and more in Villedieu-les-Poêles (literally, God’s town of frying pans), not far from Granville on the coast of Normandy. Since the 12th-century arrival of the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, later known as the Knights of Malta, the small town has been known for its dinanderie, or copperware, and by the 18th century there were some 130 ateliers at work. Today Dulin’s grand Atelier du Cuivre is one of the very few left.

Dulin and his team work in a large, lofty old studio the size of a grange hall, where the stone walls, wooden floors and oak beams reflect the warm glow of the flames used to bend and mold the copper, then to line the pots and pans with a layer of the traditional tin, or with stainless steel or silver. Dulin, who also works with brass and other metals, supplies the finest hotels and shops in Paris with copperware. The Atelier du Cuivre is a staunch guardian of age-old traditional skills, but Dulin is also a font of ideas, including removable handles on copper skillets so they can go in the oven, delicate copper jam jars for the breakfast table and a small silver frying pan intended for wild mushrooms. And he doesn’t stop with kitchen utensils—he also makes tiny copper saucepans as charms, and big, old-fashioned copper bathtubs that are marvelous to behold.

The Atelier du Cuivre is open to the public, and Dulin greets guests with a warm welcome. His work—and his reasonable prices—speak for themselves.

Atelier du Cuivre, 54 rue du Général Huard, Villedieu-les-Poêles, 02.33.51.31.85; 11 ave Daumesnil, Paris 12th, 01.43.40.20.20. website

ATELIER MÉRIGUET-CARRÈRE Peinture en Décor

Although it was founded by Paul Mériguet only in 1961, the Atelier Mériguet-Carrère specializes in age-old traditional techniques used in creating or restoring all kinds of painted and gilded decors—trompe-l’oeil, faux marble, imitation mother-of-pearl, wallpapers, painted fabrics, moldings, wood paneling and much more. The Atelier also produces its own hand-embossed and gilded leather from start to finish, engraving the metal plaques, stamping the leather in a hot press and often designing original motifs to order.

Appointed to the official ranks of France’s “living patrimony” and often collaborating with the architects in charge of the country’s historic monuments as well as renowned international decorators, Mériguet-Carrère employs some 80 experienced artisans. Whether it’s restoration or the creation of new custom-made decors, all of the meticulous, exacting work is accomplished in the company’s two Parisian workshops or directly on site.

Among the firm’s most important projects: the Petit Trianon at Versailles, the Petit Palais, the Grand Foyer of the Opéra Garnier, the Art Deco interior of the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, the apartment of early 20th-century couturière Jeanne Lanvin in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and the new luxury Shangri-La Hotel, which opened in 2010 in the former private mansion of Napoleon’s grandnephew Roland Bonaparte, in Paris’s 16th arrondissement.

84 rue de l’Abbé Groult, Paris 15th, 01.48.28.48.81. website

 

NADALIÉ Tonneliers

Long before green was good, France had tonneliers, the barrelmakers who safeguarded the world’s best oak forests to supply the world’s best winemakers. The Nadalié family opened its tonnellerie in Montpellier in1902, and in the 1930s moved to Médoc, near the great Bordeaux domains where aging fine wines requires the know-how of highly skilled coopers. Today the fifth generation, led by Stéphane Nadalié, carries on the tradition. Their barrels are custom-made, and they work closely with wineries to develop specific aromas. (They now also have tonnelleries in the US, Australia and Chile.) Wine barrels come in all shapes and sizes, depending on grape varieties, wine color, the length of time the wine will age in the barrel and the region—Burgundy barrels are long and lean, Bordeaux barrels short and stout. French barrels are considered the world’s best, because of the tightly grained white oak wood and the centuries-old mastery of cooperage skills. The process begins deep in the forest, where the family fells trees in the fading light of a waning moon, when sap is at its lowest. The logs are left in the forest to season, crucial for ensuring good aromas. They are then split into staves—the Nadaliés are among the few who continue the traditional splitting by hand. The staves are left to the elements for two years, to shed harsh tannins. Then they are shaped, planed, joined and assembled into the upright “rose” of staves. Finally barrels are treated with water and fire, with toasting a key stage.

99 rue Lafont, Ludon Médoc, Blanquefort, 05.57.10.02.02. website

 

MAISON NOEL Broderie

O verlooking the Place d’Iéna in the sophisticated 16th arrondissement, the shop windows of Maison Noël are enchanting. Colorful hand-embroidered butterflies flutter across a white organdy tablecloth, orange and red nasturtiums bloom on another. A layette motif of porcupines with yellow butterflies and balloons seems to tell a bedtime story, and a fine linen handkerchief with the outlines of a hydrangea is paired with silken twists in green, pink and coral and a spool of gold thread to inspire the nimble-fingered to practice their needlework.

Founded in 1883, Maison Noël met its destiny when it introduced fine hand-embroidery in 1910. Soon second-generation Edouard-Louis Noël had invented the famed “Noël lockstitch” and his seamstress wife, Jeanne, began creating elegant motifs reminiscent of the 18th century.

Today, Noël’s royal patrons include Great Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and Thailand’s Queen Sirikit. The Prince of Wales first glimpsed his Noël-embroidered coat of arms on the linens of his cradle. Guests at the Elysée Palace dine upon Noël’s exquisite hand-embroidered organdy and linen tablecloths, and international decorators like Alberto Pinto, Peter Marino and Jacques Grange commission special orders for clients.

“Our history is in our archives—13,000 motifs from all the designers who worked for Noël,” says owner/director Adeline Dieudonné. An atelier of about 20 embroiderers ply their artistry on white organdy or linen batiste tablecloths and place mats with classic patterns including the blue, white and gold Lys et Chardon (Lily and Thistle) and Mimosa, in shades of soft yellow, green and gold. Among newer favorites are the rainbow- hued butterflies of Jardins Imaginaires (Imaginary Gardens), designed by artist and regular Noël collaborator Annabelle d’Huart.

Special-order hand embroidery is much like haute couture. Original motifs are drawn on finely perforated tracing paper, then stenciled onto linen, cotton or organdy with a fine powder called pounce, and finally embroidered by expert seamstresses. Another technique, the embroidery loom, involves the manual selection and arrangement of all the colored threads needed for a motif, and is used to embroider large numbers of similar designs. In a third, midway process, the expert hand of a seamstress guides the needle of an embroidery machine, allowing greater freedom and sophistication in the composition.

Noël’s signature style lies in subtle colorings on the finest linen, organdy, cotton voile, percale, cotton satin or cotton piqué. Existing designs may be customized with embroidered monograms, dates or names, or the Noël design studio can create original motifs to order. Additional embroiderers are recruited when special orders are large, “like a big yacht with ten staterooms,” says Dieudonné. “Then, it is decorated like a house with different color schemes for the rooms and linens marked with the name of the boat. At Noël, everything is possible.”

1 ave Pierre 1er de Serbie, Paris 16th, 01.40.70.14.63. website

 

BERNARD JOLY Ferronnier

Great gardens come in many shapes and sizes, but they all share an awareness of space and form. A formal French Renaissance garden may have little in common with the secret, enclosed garden of a Moroccan villa, but both have a way of beckoning the beholder, bidding them to discover a new, almost mysterious world of sensory delights. In his atelier outside of Brion, just south of Poitiers, garden architect Bernard Joly creates magnificent steel structures that help bring shape and form to a garden and provide those special spaces. There are pergolas and pavilions, tunnels, trellises and aptly named gloriettes—all ready to be festooned with flowers and plants, or to stand proudly on their own, so handsome are they.

“What we produce structures the space of a garden and gives it rhythm and form,” explains Joly, a skilled metalworker who started his garden venture almost accidentally 20 years ago when a local antique dealer asked him to create some wrought ironwork for his garden. Once Joly completed that assignment, other orders began to flood in. Joly now works with a team of artisans hand-making his garden creations. Most of the structures are unique; others derive from classic designs that Joly has resurrected from his extensive collection of blueprints belonging to 18th- and 19th-century ironworks specializing in garden designs. Joly adapts and updates the historic designs, using special zinc-galvanized steel to insure longevity. “Beautiful gardens are long-term investments,” says Joly, “so we aim to make something that will be around to delight future generations.”

Pied Barraud, Brion, 05.49.59.34.44. website

Originally published in the December 2010 issue of France Today