Tradition in a tassel
- Passementerie Verrier is the last workshop of its kind in Paris
- Yves' parents bought the Verrier workshop in 1968
- Working with Jacquard looms is Yves' passion
To hear Yves Dorget speak about the tradition of France’s passementerie (also 'trimmings' in English) is to understand the passion that keeps him in his workshop, day after day. It is a passion that propelled him to set up a business partnership with Anne Anquetin to ensure he could focus exclusively on the craft he loves – creating the bespoke tie-backs, tassels and embroidered fringes (and many other elements) that can decorate an interior in much the same way that jewellery adorns a body. “If you’re unaware of passementerie, you may never notice it – the braids and fringes around a lamp, or the tie-back on the drapes – but once you have a sense of these small items, you notice how they change the room,” he says.
Interview
- Why did you choose passementerie?
- It was my parents’ business, but I never went into the workshop. In my 20s I figured it was time for an internship. I finally realised I wanted to work, not study. I spent three months with an upholsterer in New York and loved it, then came home to learn.
- What do you love about your job?
- It’s my absolute passion. I really love it when clients come into the workshop and can see all that we do – with our looms or by hand. They are often amazed to see the details and the materials. It’s extra special because we’re the last passementerie workshop in Paris.
- Why does passementerie have a unique vocabulary?
- Historically, there were many trimmings workshops all over France, and the various craftsmen almost made a game of inventing new names for different decorations. Even a standard design like a tie-back might have ended up with a dozen names.
- Can you innovate in passementerie?
- You can, though this was hard for me initially. I was stuck in a traditional perspective; for me passementerie equals tradition. But Anne brought me out of this and it’s exciting to see her vision, which is more modern, influence our workshop – with success!
Yves Dorget is a master artisan: he began his career in 1992 and he started teaching in 2004
Works
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Yves Dorget
