La Fabrique de Copeaux
"Combining my different passions which are woodworking, craftsmanship, drawing, design, furniture and interior decoration, I propose you through this site to project you in my workshop.
La Fabrique de Copeaux is located in Auvergne in the middle of the Livradois Forez natural park where I imagine, design and create on the spot various unique objects or in small series going from the small object of decoration to the furniture.
The materials used, mainly solid wood, come from the forests near the workshop and are worked entirely by hand in the carpenter's workshop where I grew up."
Mickaël, Artisan creator.
Behind the Chip Factory, there is only one person, like many small artisan workshops.
"Born in the chips", I am the son and grandson of a carpenter. My grandfather set up his first workshop in a wooden building at the end of World War II and rode his bicycle, with his leather saddlebags always filled with tools. These same tools that I still have in my hands for some of them.
Before the final stage of manufacturing, I take pleasure in drawing the first sketch, testing, prototyping, failing, thinking (too much sometimes), re-testing, sawing, planing, sanding or testing different finishes. I am involved in all stages of design, including photography and promotion of my work.
Passionate about photography, I take the time (a lot sometimes) to try to capture the final rendering from the best angle. I want to remain master of the image I give to my creations.
Born in Auvergne, I am lucky to be able to work with local woods such as chestnut, oak, cherry, beech, walnut... and any other species that I have come across since I was a child in the forests surrounding the workshop.
Wood is a noble and delicate material, I am attentive to this living material and aware that I use trees that sometimes took more than 100 years to grow. It is something I think about a lot, we must somehow honor it by spending time working on it when we have it in our hands. I select each board to minimize waste and scraps; all with the sole purpose of respecting this material as much as possible.
My grandfather and my father were involved in the whole process of supplying the wood: felling the trees, sawing, drying and of course planting new trees for the next generation... Nowadays, with the big stores that bring us everything we want in self-service or 48-hour delivery, we finally lose this relationship with the material. I wish, through my work, to keep this natural richness alive and that we all keep in mind that wood is a rare material with a long life span before it can pass through our door.
I also spend a lot of time walking in nature, exploring mountain tops, dark undergrowth, but always to go to wild places. Why? To "lose oneself" in nature and then better find oneself and take a step back from one's work.
These moments are essential to stimulate creativity. They also allow us to take the time to "re" live at the rhythm of nature, to be in connection with the seasons, to cut with the speed and frenzy of a contemporary society, where life must always go faster, where everything is always more connected, where we must always produce more... Nature is the opposite: simple, patient and serene. In a culture that tends more and more towards mass production, of mass-produced objects that are depersonalized, too smooth, too homogeneous, (and often not very durable), I choose to follow a slightly different path: to pay tribute to more traditional craftsmanship while allowing my creativity to express itself, nourished by modern, minimalist inspirations, or foreign traditions (Japan, Scandinavian countries...)
"What if freedom consisted in owning time? What if happiness was about having solitude, space and silence - all things that future generations will lack? As long as there are cabins in the woods, nothing will be completely lost. "
Sylvain Tesson In the forests of Siberia
I handcraft unique pieces, notably with woodturning, or small series of "identical" objects. In each series, nothing is perfectly identical. There are the imperfections of wood: defects, knots, imperfections that time has left. Then there are the imperfections that my hands can create, because no! I am not an automated machine and the repeated gestures of a human can leave small imperfections. With any handmade piece, one must be aware of the human value of the object, the know-how and the gestures that are behind it. To consume and buy local is something that is close to my heart, that's why when one of my creations is associated with a product outside the workshop, I try to collaborate with local people or at least on the French territory.
From Lafabriquedecopeaux.fr
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