the best of culture, travel & art de vivreSummer 2013

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HERMÈS’s Secret Garden ARTISANS: The Next Rock Stars? The New PATRONS

FRANCE • SUMMER 2013 35

Ever since royalpatronage went theway of powdered wigs,artisans have struggledwith the challenge ofjuggling the demandsof production andmarketing. And nowthat potential clients are spread around the world, sales are more daunting than ever for these small operations. Recently, a few passionate supporters have stepped in, infusing capital and know-how to help artisans thrive in the global economy. On the following pages, Tina Isaac & Roland Flamini profile two initiatives that are revitalizing heritage companies.

The New Patrons

////// MAISON PARISIENNE \\\\\\

////// FORT ROYAL \\\\\\

Brussels’s Ancienne Nonciature served as an elegant showcase for “Humeur Baroque,” a Maison Parisienne installation this past spring featuring furnishings, decorative objects and works of art.

FRANCE • SUMMER 2013 3736 FRANCE • SUMMER 2013

It sounds counterintuitive, but contemporary French artisans owe a debt of gratitude to globalization:

Had luxury brands not moved into markets worldwide, the Maison Parisienne concept may never have taken shape.

In a previous life, Maison Parisienne co-founder Florence Guillier Bernard was a perfume and cosmetics executive whose travels took her around the globe. “From Paris to Moscow, Beijing to New York, I felt like I was always seeing the same things,” she recalls. “Or at least nothing that was very different, let alone unique.”

This “shopping déjà vu” sparked her curiosity. “I knew that there were talented and energetic artisans making beautiful things; why wasn’t I seeing their work?” She eventually concluded that while big luxury companies are extremely well organized, with sophisticated marketing teams that can orchestrate lavish product launches, in-dependent craftspeople struggle to make ends meet simply because they don’t know how to put themselves out there. “Their products

are wonderful, but they just don’t have the time and resources to promote themselves,” she says. “When I realized this, I knew that I wanted to help these artisans, to support craftsmanship that is astonishing, unique and exceptional.”

Guillier Bernard decided to return to her roots. As the granddaughter of a saddler and leather-goods maker, she knew something about artisanal savoir-faire, and defending France’s rich tradition of craftsmanship resonated with her. “France has a long history of extraordinary artisans-créateurs. Even before Louis XIV, there were artisans who created remarkable pieces,” she says. “And there still are. But the difference is that today, most earn a living making copies or restoring antiques. They don’t know how to find a market for their new work, so sometimes their best pieces just wind up in a closet.”

Together with her associate, art director Jean-Marc Dimanche, Guillier Bernard resolved to open a new kind of luxury house for these gifted craftspeople—one without a collection, a cata-logue or even a boutique, and that would be ac-cessible by invitation only.

The duo began by calling on artisans and art-ists they admired, who in turn introduced them to others. Talented students came to their atten-tion through teachers at schools such as Paris’s prestigious Ecole Boulle, which offers training in more than a dozen crafts as well as design and architecture.

“The idea was to develop a stable of artisans-créateurs, who craft only original pieces, as well as artisans d’art, who may make copies or do res-toration work in addition to some original de-signs,” she says, delicately parsing a distinction that is in fact rather fuzzy. “In my view, every artisan is an artist. But sensitivities can run high, so we use different terms depending on individ-ual preferences.”

As Maison Parisienne’s network grew, Guillier

Bernard had another insight: Connecting creators with potential clients was only one part of the picture. “Rather than open just another gallery where people would come and go and barely interact, I wanted to show-case these unique objects in a warm, livable environment,” she explains.

In December 2008, Maison Parisienne finally made its début. The venue was the Plaza Athénée’s sumptuous Suite Royale, a natural fit given that the hotel is itself an Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant and employs master craftspeople specializing in gilding, cabinetry, uphol-stery and other métiers.

What visitors discovered at the “Magie Blanche” show was not so much an exhibition as a wondrous installation—nearly 200 pieces of art, decorative objects and furniture seemed to be in conversation. Like the artisans themselves, Dimanche played up the show’s two themes, the notions of light and preciousness, recasting the dining room and two bedrooms as a “chemin du paradis,” a “chambre des merveilles” and a “cabinet divin.” It was as if a fabulous spread from an

• The “organic, almost mineral” originality of Simone Pheulpin’s meticulously pleated and pinned textile sculp-tures made them one of Maison Parisienne’s first coups de cœur. The house brought Pheulpin’s work to the attention

of a well-known collector, who bought a piece im-mediately and placed it in his home between two sculptures by Camille Claudel. Today, works by the 72-year-old artist can be found in noteworthy collec-tions both public and private.

• Pierre Renard’s “Genèse” carbon-fiber armchair, his gradua-tion project for Ecole Boulle, was so original that Maison Parisienne approached him about creating a dozen more. Renard opened his own atelier; Maison Parisienne supplied the tools. “He took a risk,” says Guillier

Bernard. “Today, he’s making a name for himself. Not a bad start for someone who, two years ago, wasn’t really sure what he’d do after graduation!”

• Relying on both tradi-tional and modern tech-niques, Nathalie Fosse turns out astonishing, sculptural and symbolic pieces such as her egg-shaped tripod cabinets. The exterior of this model is lacquered with emu eggshells; the interior features ebony compart-ments and a python lining. Such sophistication has

made the artist a favorite among collectors and gar-nered comparisons with the Lalannes.

House Talents

interior décor magazine had sprung to life. The five-day event drew 500 visitors who snapped up some 30

items. “We hadn’t even begun to imagine that level of response,” says Guillier Bernard. “We quickly learned to schedule fewer appointments and to admit only individuals or small groups, in order to preserve the magic of the experience.” The Maison Parisienne pre-holiday rendez-vous at the Plaza Athénée has been an annual tradition ever since.

F ive years and 24 installations later, Maison Parisienne promotes 220 artisans working in media ranging from cabinet making, porcelain and glass to silver, sculpture, embroidery and painting. Each edition showcases about 150 works, with

the mix varying according to theme, location and client requests (many pieces are custom made). In keeping with its general philosophy, Maison Parisienne has a preference for relatively unknown but historic locations such as Christofle’s upstairs salons on rue Royale and the An-cienne Nonciature in Brussels, once the embassy of the Vatican. Inter-est is generated almost entirely via word of mouth, and many clients and collectors now follow Maison Parisienne wherever it goes.

Between shows, customers may schedule private appointments in Guillier Bernard’s own maison parisienne in the 17th arrondissement. While the venue is smaller in scale than a typical palace hotel suite, the hostess takes care to curate the décor for each client.

As it turns out, the Maison Parisienne concept was prescient. “When we started out, no one was talking about artisans,” recalls Guillier Bernard. Since then, supporting traditional craftsmanship has become a talking point for luxury houses and a source of na-tional pride. In 2011, the Journées des Métiers d’Art blossomed from a biannual fringe event into an annual spring happening backed by the ministries of education, of culture and communication, and of artisans, commerce and tourism.

Attitudes toward luxury have evolved too, edging toward the more discreet, personal, even intangible. Whether they’re spending a few hundred euros or many thousands, customers are showing a new-found interest in artisanal techniques and, whenever possible, they want to meet the people who make the items they buy.

Response has been so positive that Maison Parisienne is consider-ing taking its show to London, with an eye to more distant locales such as the U.S., Brazil and Hong Kong. “People have come to realize that we have this treasure in France,” says Guillier Bernard. “Our job is to do everything we can to preserve it. Maison Parisienne exists be-cause we believe the exceptional should be the rule.” maisonparisienne.fr

Maison Parisienne

A new breed of luxury houseconnects singular French artisanswith an international audience. By TINA ISAAC

Delicate ostrich-egg shells cover the exterior of Nathalie Fosse’s award-winning “Origine” (2008), an egg-shaped curiosity cabinet.

Alain Mailland’s extraordinary “Temple” (2012) was sculpted from the root of a strawberry tree.

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38 FRANCE • SUMMER 2013

Jardins du Roi Soleil is celebrating the 400th an-niversary of the birth of

André Le Nôtre, Louis XIV’s landscape architect, with a dramatic addition to its line of garden furnishings: a high-design planter named in his honor. It’s a fitting tribute, given that the company’s best-selling item has long been a tree box modeled after the sturdy caisses à orangers invented by Le Nôtre.

It’s hard to imagine Versailles without the elegant simplicity of these handsome containers, which al-low gardeners to move orange trees and other cold- sensitive plants indoors in the winter without having to dig them out of the ground. Le Nôtre cleverly de-signed the containers to have hinges so that the sides can flip down, allowing gardeners to tend the root ball without removing the plant from its box. And they are built to last a century or longer; frames are constructed of high-quality cast iron made in France, and slats are fashioned from Tronçais oak—the wood coveted by top winemakers for their barrels.

While the new “Caisse Le Nôtre LN013” is a direct descendant of this classic planter, it is more Richard Serra than Sun King, made of the same Corten steel favored by the sculptor for his outsized creations. For the Paris-based Jardins du Roi Soleil, rolling out this edgy new design is especially gratifying, given that less than three years ago, maintaining its artisanal ways had become so costly that it was considering adopting more economical machine-based meth-ods. Then Fort Royal stepped in. Founded in 2010, Fort Royal is technically a holding company yet functions more as a collective dedicated to breathing new life into French craftsmanship and attracting younger generations to rapidly disappearing skills.

After looking at dozens of companies, Fort Royal chose Jardins du Roi Soleil as its first acquisition. “My firm had been the official supplier to Versailles for nearly four decades, and I was looking for help so that we wouldn’t have to change the way we did things,” recalls owner Jean-François Jiquel. “Then someone put me in touch

////// THE NEW PATRONS \\\\\\

Fort Royal

Jardins du Roi Soleil’s planters are based on the original design created by André Le Nôtre for Versailles. Top: An artisan pours molten iron to form a frame for the containers. Above: Slats are fashioned from the same durable oak used by top winemakers for their barrels. Opposite: The company is best known for supplying the planters that dot Versailles’s Orangerie.

with Fort Royal, and things have since gone very, very well. It’s given us the chance to develop our product line and increase our output.” The company now offers Versailles-style planters in eight sizes and 12 colors, and earlier this year introduced three models of wooden garden benches, all copies of designs originally made for the palace grounds.

A similar scenario played out in Reims at the Atelier Simon Marq, a stained-glass workshop that has been in the same family since 1640. In the early 20th century, its reputation for excellence made it a favor-ite of Marc Chagall and other artists, but uncertainty set in when the sons and heirs of the present owner decided to pursue other interests. Fort Royal came to the rescue there too, offering a support package that would enable the owner to train a successor. The atelier recently completed its first assignment under the new management: three stained-glass windows for a Protestant church in Martigny, Switzer-land, based on designs by Swiss artist Hans Erni.

Jacques Bolelli launched his company with a simple concept: Let artisans do what they do best, we’ll take care of the rest. By ROLAND FLAMINI

40 FRANCE • SUMMER 2013 FRANCE • SUMMER 2013 41

Although Bruchet doesn’t say so, the acquisition was a last-minute lifeline. During its heyday in the 1950s, Darne’s workshop in Saint-Etienne produced 200 guns annually, all made, assembled and fin-ished by hand at the company’s atelier. But sales had slumped in the face of competition from larger, better-organized gunsmiths. By 2010, Darne employed only three artisans, and its output averaged eight guns a year.

“At Fort Royal, they have experience in communications, and they have a lot of good connections,” says Bruchet. In the past four months, Darne’s sales have increased 40 to 50 percent—which is to say to about 12 guns per year. But for Bruchet, expansion is not the top priority. What’s important is the freedom to maintain Darne’s reputation for high-quality workmanship.

In return for its contributions to member companies, Fort Royal typically takes half the profits—assuming there are profits, which is not always the case. But Bolelli knows that turning these companies around can take time and is in it for the long haul. And while he hopes they will all thrive, he has no illusions of building another luxury conglomerate.

Fort Royal had initially planned to make three acquisitions a year, but that target proved too ambitious. As Préaud explains, each “mating ritual” takes longer than either he or Bolelli had anticipated.

reputations for high quality but dim pros-pects for the future, simply because their owners “are not good at doing anything other than what they already know how to do. When we buy a company, we central-ize everything—management, marketing, distribution—which removes the psycho-logical weight of having to cope with the modern problems of running a company. But each company remains a separate en-tity. We let them do their thing and train young people.”

After purchasing the Jardins du Roi Soleil and Atelier Simon Marq, Fort Royal acquired Craman Lagarde, a family-owned cabi-netmaker with a reputation for expert marquetry. Based in Revel, a town near Toulouse that was once a center for this craft, Craman Lagarde turns out styles ranging from Louis XIV to contemporary, all using the rare savoir-faire and quality materials that have earned it the distinction of Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant.

Another recent addition to the Fort Royal portfolio is Darne, a well-known gun-maker established in 1881. “Originally Jacques Bo-lelli came to us because he wanted to buy one of our hunting guns,” says owner Hervé Bruchet, “but he ended up buying the company.”

“It’s only after a year of cautiously circling each other and sniffing the air that we can get down to business and start discussing terms, which may take another year. But it’s not because the companies we are negotiating with want more money. What they really want is a guarantee that they will survive.”

This year, Fort Royal raised additional capital from private inves-tors and now has €2.6 million on hand. It is currently in the final stages of adding two more companies to its cooperative, including Rémi Crézé, a 114-year-old iron works in Brittany. Last year, the company completed a new altar in marble and stainless steel for the Saint-Etienne Cathedral in Rennes, using the same methods em-ployed by craftsmen in the 13th century.

Remarkably, Fort Royal, whose logo is a silhouette of Vauban’s structure, is seeing growth despite France’s economic problems. One explanation: 80 percent of its business now comes from exports. And, as Bolelli points out, “the wealthy are immune to financial cri-ses, and they make up most of our clientele.” The Fort Royal showroom is located at 32 bd de la Bastille, 75012 Paris; Tel. 33/1-83-64-89-12; fort-royal.com.

Every story has to begin somewhere, and Fort Royal’s begins on a tiny island of the same name just off the coast of Brittany’s Saint-Malo. Here Sébastien le Pre-stre, Marquis de Vauban, the renowned 17th-century military architect, built a fort to protect the approaches to the harbor. The name was later changed to Fort Na-

tional, and over the centuries, it fell into ruins. The current owner, business executive Jacques Bolelli, recounts that in 1920, his grandfa-ther purchased and restored the property, only to see it bombed and burned during World War II. “He made repairs using contemporary materials, but the results weren’t as solid as the original construction. So we eventually decided to undo everything and start all over.” It was a long process, with work continuing for more than a decade. Along the way, Bolelli became impressed by the skill and dedica-tion of the artisans working on the project—and by their dwindling numbers as young workers gravitated toward modern industry.

So Bolelli quit his job as directeur général of Groupe Hersant Mé-dia and launched Fort Royal with a working capital of €800,000. His goal was “to become the leading creator of [objects] made from the best materials, with the finest French savoir-faire.”

According to Bolelli’s partner, architect and landscape designer Christian Préaud, Fort Royal seeks out artisanal enterprises with

Founded in 1640, the venerable Atelier Simon Marq has long snagged top commissions; in 1977, its craftsmen collaborated with artist Joan Miró on eight stained-glass windows for Senlis’s Collégiale Saint-Frambourg. Inset: Benoit Marq verifies that pieces of cut glass are a perfect color match.

f

Many of Darne’s guns feature intricate engravings; this special edition Modèle V displays a hunting scene. Inset: Owner Hervé Bruchet takes a hands-on approach.

Founded in 1985, France Magazine is published by the nonprofit French-American Cultural Foundation.

This article originally appeared in the Summer 2013 issue of France Magazine.

Subscriptions and gift subscriptionsare available online at www.francemagazine.org

the best of culture, travel & art de vivreSummer 2013

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HERMÈS’s Secret Garden ARTISANS: The Next Rock Stars? The New PATRONS