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    Made in France: Laura Morelli's Authentic Arts, #5
    Made in France: Laura Morelli's Authentic Arts, #5
    Made in France: Laura Morelli's Authentic Arts, #5
    Ebook150 pages1 hour

    Made in France: Laura Morelli's Authentic Arts, #5

    By Laura Morelli

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    About this ebook

    Baccarat crystal. Limoges porcelain. Scented gloves and handmade Parisian umbrellas. The prized digestifs, Armagnac and Cognac.

    Organized by region, with one chapter devoted to Paris, MADE IN FRANCE takes you on a complete tour of the dazzling artisanal legacy of France, uncovering off-the-beaten-path destinations and one-of-a-kind, hidden workshops where everything from lingerie to chocolate is turned out completely by hand, piece by piece.

    This book includes instructions for getting a free copy of the companion guide, ARTISANS OF FRANCE, with complete, continually updated listings of Laura's personally recommended shops and artisans across France.

    Laura Morelli, art historian and trusted guide in the world of cultural travel and authentic shopping, leads you behind the tourist traps to discover some of France's most traditional arts.

    Laura holds a Ph.D. in art history from Yale University and shares how, what, and where to buy; hints on recognizing quality and authenticity; and tips for bringing home the artisanal treasures of France in your suitcase.

    Scroll up and grab your copy today!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAuthentic Arts Publishing
    Release dateJan 30, 2019
    ISBN9781942467205
    Made in France: Laura Morelli's Authentic Arts, #5
    Author

    Laura Morelli

    Laura Morelli holds a Ph.D. in art history from Yale University and has taught at the college level in the U.S. and in Italy. She is a TedEd educator and a columnist for National Geographic Traveler magazine. Her debut novel, The Gondola Maker, earned a starred review in Publishers Weekly as well as IPPY and Benjamin Franklin Awards. Her nonfiction travel guide series, including the popular book  Made in Italy, was originally published by Rizzoli / Universe.

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      Book preview

      Made in France - Laura Morelli

      FREE DOWNLOAD

      Download your free copy of the companion guide,

      Artisans of France, with up-to-date listings of my

      personally recommended artisans and shops.

      Visit www.LauraMorelli.com/France-ReaderGift to get started.

      About the Second Edition

      Ten years ago, the first edition of Made in France hit the shelves. The book was the result of several years of research, pushed by a drive to help lead travelers through a complicated maze of shopping for authentic arts in France. My goal was, and still is, helping travelers discern the treasures from the trash, educating people about the history and cultural context of the things they see when they travel, and guiding them to high-quality resources that will enhance their experience.

      Since this book’s initial publication, many things in France have changed. Unfortunately, some artisans have succumbed to the economic pressures of our times. We live in an environment where customers want immediate gratification; it can be difficult to justify time and value for objects that require so many hours of labor. It is particularly heart-wrenching to watch multigenerational enterprises close their doors.

      The good news is that some new artisans have appeared on the scene, breathing new life into the landscape of French artisanship. In order to keep abreast of these inevitable changes, I have pulled the listings section into a separate ebook, which you can download free at www.LauraMorelli.com/France-ReaderGift. My goal is to keep this ebook as up to date as possible to ensure the best possible travel and shopping experience for you.

      What hasn’t changed is that, even in our world of instant gratification and mass production, France still possesses an astonishing number of world-class craftspeople and artisanal traditions. Literally thousands of potters, weavers, silversmiths, embroiderers, furnituremakers, and other specialists carry on the important job of preserving France’s artisanal patrimony, from Limoges porcelain to Baccarat crystal. French artisanal tradition is all about legacy, quality, pride, workmanship, and history, what I call would call a spirit of tradition that, thankfully, endures.

      The Spirit of Tradition

      It’s excruciating to watch.

      A young Frenchman in a white shirt and leather apron picks up a tray of crystal goblets, then tips it into a bin on the factory floor. In one earsplitting second, the glasses shatter into a thousand glistening shards. What makes this destruction especially painful is that these goblets are not just any crystal.

      They are Baccarat.

      And with Baccarat, there is no such thing as second-quality. Only perfect pieces reach its showrooms and boutiques across France and around the globe. Anything less than perfect is unceremoniously demolished.

      This commitment to excellence exemplifies French artisanship. From faience to flatware, baubles to berets, perfume to porcelain, toys to tapestries, French craftsmanship stands among the most esteemed in the world. I want to take you on a journey through this land whose best artisans, as if by magic, can transform sand into crystal, earth into a gilded teacup, a cocoon into draperies befitting the Sun King, a tree limb into an elegant walking stick, and even frogs’ legs—zut alors!—into a delicacy.

      I have been captivated by France for decades. I was twelve the first time I laid eyes on the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. It sparked a fire somewhere deep inside my soul and ever since, I have returned to France as often as possible to live and work. I studied French in school (I was even mademoiselle la présidente of my high-school French Club!). I spent a memorable year at the University of Lyon, and the better part of my graduate school days in Paris archives or traveling to remote sites across the French countryside, from Normandy to the Pyrenees. Years later, I’m still captivated by French art and culture.

      During the course of my research for this book, I stood transfixed before artisans who showed me firsthand what’s unique about French craftsmanship: beauty, quality, and skill have propelled products like Baccarat crystal, Limoges porcelain, and foie gras to world-class status. In this book and the free ebook companion, Artisans of France, you will meet some of the remarkable people who keep the flame alive for traditions that would have died out centuries ago if it weren’t for their singular efforts.

      In this paradise of haute cuisine, it is not surprising that many of the country’s best handmade items are intended for the table: fine porcelain and china, crystal, cutlery, and exquisite table linens. But lesser-known treasures await discovery in picturesque country villages: the hand-carved walking sticks of the Basque country, rustic pottery and folk furniture in the Alps, and antiques, not to mention artisanally made chocolates and liqueurs.

      With this book and its ebook companion, I will to lead you to France’s best craftspeople, scouring each of its twenty-two regions for time-honored treasures with a uniquely French accent.

      Vive la Tradition!

      The word manufacture conveys a different meaning in French than in English. Originally, in both languages man-u-facture connoted made by hand or made manually (in French, la main = hand). In English, the term eventually carried an industrial connotation (manufacturer or factory), but in French the word manufacture retains its original meaning of made by hand (the French use another word, usine, to mean industrial factory).

      An important feature that distinguishes French craftsmanship is a history of large-scale artisanal enterprises—manufactures —employing many skilled craftspeople. The story begins in the eighteenth century with the proliferation of manufactures royales, ventures that put the country’s best craftspeople to work churning out Gobelins tapestries, Sèvres porcelain, Chantilly lace, and more luxuries—all in the service of the state. Today, many large French corporations with international status—companies like Baccarat, Bernardaud, Daum, even Hermès—still operate in a similar fashion, employing sometimes hundreds of highly skilled craftspeople in a manufacture where they still make traditional goods, at least in part, by hand.

      Of course, in preindustrial society, everything was made by hand, even the most banal objects needed for everyday living: wrought-iron tools, pots and spoons, clothing and textiles, and baskets for carrying the harvest. Artisans specializing in an astonishing variety of trades from locksmithing to lace making were indispensable in this society. In France, an insistence on beauty and quality craftsmanship—deeply ingrained in the culture—meant that some of these simple utilitarian works rose to the status of objets d art.

      As avid patrons of the arts, the French monarchy and nobility propelled this demand for beautiful objects, and as a result, craftsmanship flourished to a level nearly unmatched anywhere in Europe. The French monarchy served as a major patron of handmade goods of the highest order; certain enterprises and trades, including the Sèvres porcelain manufacture, and the tapestry works of Beauvais and Gobelins, owed their very existence to the crown. Of course, French kings, queens, and nobility were also the main patrons for the silks, trims, and fancy fin­ery that

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