Crafts

Silk workers weave a spell on Lyon’s shoppers and tourists

We talk to the current generation running one of Lyon’s oldest silk workshops

Hop to it! The inexorable French rise in IPA beer consumption

IPA drinking is a quiet French revolution that has been slowly building over the last few years

Good gourd! French artist turns dried fruit into art

David Thille was hooked when he discovered the hard-shell gourds can be dried and fashioned into implements such as bowls and spoons, or decorated to make ornaments

Skills of making pastel blue dye in Tarn added to French heritage list

The practices used date to the Middle Ages and the natural blue pigment was used to colour the first French flags

'We are proud to continue the craft of traditional straw brooms'

Marie-Laure and Arnaud Gabriel from Normandy have revived a dying craft, and become one of only two makers of traditional straw brooms in France

Meet Paris' last artisanal mattress maker

Patrice Sébille runs the only 'atelier' of its kind left in Paris. He stepped in to save an ancient skill, but is finding it tough to keep going

Stocking Christmas markets’ stalls is a year-round business

Muriel Schumacher and her team make typical Alsace Christmas decorations and it takes all year to prep for the Christmas period

Meet the maker of the 'world’s smallest accordion'

When professional accordionist Stéphane Bonifassi could not find an instrument on the market that suited him 23 years ago, he started making his own

French crafts in focus: clock and lock-maker

Locks, clocks and a busy time for one French horloger / serrurier

French hospital shares homemade mask instructions

A French hospital has published instructions on how to make homemade face masks that can be worn outside the home, as many people may have no symptoms but could spread the virus unknowingly.

Craftspeople in France: Maroquinier/Leather craftsman

Quality and unique items are focus of leatherwork artisans

Craftspeople in France - ski maker

The artisans keeping alive proud French ski traditions

Craftspeople in France - candlemaker

Holding a candle for veggie wax

France's crafts in focus - November 2019

Inside magical world of a self-taught ceramic artist

France's crafts in focus - April 2019

I loved hats so much I learnt how to create them

France's crafts in focus - May 2019

Versace family’s handcrafted and traditional tiles

France's crafts in focus - September 2019

Modern-day careers in the age-old art of bookbinding

Handcrafted bicycles enjoy renaissance as works of art

Some of the bicycles in this month’s Tour de France are likely to have been hand-built by a frame-builder, a cadreur in French.

The return of baby-foot

Classic French bar game is enjoying an unlikely renaissance

How romantic movie inspired successful brolly business

Jane Hanks discovers the myriad possibilities presented by a quality, handmade parapluie from a man whose father was inspired to start making umbrellas by a well-known Sixties French musical

French women make world’s biggest Christmas jumper

A group of women from Albi (Tarn, Occitanie) are challenging themselves to knit the world’s biggest Christmas jumper after successfully competing in the Ugly Jumper World Championship in 2017.

Co-working: it’s a money maker

They have names such as atelier de fabrication (fablab) , bricothèque , café associatif or relais Amap but these makerspaces or co-working places could create thousands of jobs - many in hard-hit rural areas.

Happy few keep basket-making alive in France

Crafts in focus: Basket-weaving is an ancient craft, but why are makers so few and far between in France?

Craft fair is still open to welcome newcomers

Many members of EuroMayenne Association are putting finishing touches to work for the annual craft fair on October 28 but there is still time for others to sign up and exhibit.

Meet Cyril Genet: a French silk-maker from Lyon

Jane Hanks talks to Lyon silk-maker Cyril Genet about the city’s heritage in the print industry and the skills required to make luxury goods

Methodical manner needed to restore stained-glass art

Crafts in Focus: Delicacy, intricacy and a love of nature are key to the work of a stained-glass window restorer

Bronze casters show mettle in physically tough craft

CRAFTS IN FOCUS: Strength and artistic sensibility are prerequisites for any fondeur d’art

Almost-forgotten skills live on in France

European artistic crafts days will feature 8,500 events across France

Gold-beaters: trade so rare there is just one left

Crafts in focus: Apprenticeship with last business standing is the only way to get into this once so popular trade

Gold-beaters: trade so rare there is just one left

Crafts in focus: Apprenticeship with last business standing is the only way to get into this once so popular trade

Crafts in focus: walking sticks

Making walking sticks also means hiking poles and sword sticks for the fabricant de cannes

Traditional Calais lace can help women after breast cancer

Innovative technique allows new cells to grow and reconstruct ‘natural’ breast

Fierce heat and a delicate touch create glass delights

Spinning delicate laceworks of glass or intricate shapes and globes, verriers au chalumeau or ‘lampworkers’ in English are a fascinating sight.

Try your hand in weekend festival of artistic crafts

Knitting needles help revive French city

Volunteers needed for ‘yarn bombing’ project in Normandy – and last chance to see Hollywood recreated in wool