THREE GENERATIONS OF CABINETMAKERS

Immersed since childhood in the grammar and words of wood, through a family tradition, I felt during my adolescence the absolute necessity to continue this initiatory path. So I gathered the acquired syntactic units, to logically construct “the sentence”, through a joiner training in Vendée, followed by that of cabinetmaker in Brittany and finally furniture restorer in the Art Trades Workshops of Château d’O in Normandy.

IN SEARCH OF EXCELLENCE

Then, to discover my own style, I visited in vain, various workshops in France for nine years. And, it was in my last job, during my participation in a continuing training seminar on scientific data applied to conservation-restoration, presence accepted by my boss as an exception, that a spark occurred. It was what I was looking for.

APPLIED RESEARCH

To develop this conception of the trade, I was obliged to create my own company and for five successive years I followed a teaching, combining theory and practice, both ancient and modern, in the fields of cleaning, gluing, consolidation, finishing, coloring for furniture having suffered the ravages of time.

Beyond internships, I was encouraged to devote a part of my professional life to applied research and I obtained in 2006, the first prize “les Aliénor” for innovation on the theme of consolidation of wood structures, and in 2013, the first prize, “Stars et Métiers Technical Innovation”.

CONTINUING EDUCATION

Happiness is shared.

Also, to better transmit my conception of the trade, I set up in 2010, a structure of permanent training, the FPPC (Training for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage).

Finally, to better guide the concept of research, I, with as scientific coordinator, Gilbert Delcroix, gathered in 2014, 10 professionals of furniture conservation/restoration, in a working group, with objectives to solve problems that have not yet to this day found a concrete solution, applicable within the framework of a workshop and ethically acceptable.