Workshop visit: meeting our craftspeople
Behind every bespoke piece, every glazed screen, every tile, there is a workshop and a pair of hands. They are the ones who make our drawings hold together. We pushed open a few doors to introduce three long-standing partners.
« A drawing is only worth as much as the hand that makes it. »
The cabinetmaker
In the Oise, Solane has shaped our furniture for six years. There, wood is chosen board by board, by smell as much as by eye. A chest of drawers may wait three weeks until he finds the perfectly placed knot. That slowness is not up for negotiation: it is what separates a piece of furniture from your piece of furniture.
The rule of three tries
Before any final piece, Solane makes three joinery samples. We handle them, criticise them, decide. Nothing goes into production without this ritual — it is where the details no plan can show get settled.
Inside the workshop — the craftsperson's gesture (illustrative video).
The metalworker
In Montreuil, workshop 93 bends and welds the steel of our glazed screens and staircases. Metal has a bad reputation — cold, industrial. In their hands it becomes fine, almost graphic, and knows how to disappear in favour of the light it frames.
The ceramicist
Finally, Awen fires glazed tiles for us that are never quite identical. It is exactly this irregularity that gives a splashback or a bathroom a vibration industry will never imitate. Every kiln holds its surprise — we welcome it as a signature.
« Bespoke isn't more material. It's more attention. »
Solane, cabinetmaker
Working with them means accepting the time of the handmade. It costs more than a flat-pack, of course. But it is passed down, repaired, and retold. Over a lifetime, it is the most economical option we know.