{"id":78956,"date":"2015-09-23T16:01:09","date_gmt":"2015-09-23T06:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/?p=78956"},"modified":"2020-02-04T12:14:21","modified_gmt":"2020-02-04T01:14:21","slug":"french-artisans-evanela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/2015\/09\/23\/french-artisans-evanela\/","title":{"rendered":"Artisans & entrepreneurs in Paris: discover French artisans with Evanela"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MyFrenchLife\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n

The French take great pride in their cultural heritage<\/a>. More than anywhere else in the world, art, design, and craftsmanship are respected as more than simply superfluous and self-indulgent pursuits.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite the era of ongoing financial crises, technological development and \u2018cheaper is better\u2019 culture, even in France, these professions continue to renew themselves<\/a> through new designs and new talent. Techniques passed down through the generations, in everything from embroidery to corsetry, shoemaking, glassblowing and cabinet-making may seem to some as giving way to the sands of time, but one French woman insists that they will not be lost, and that the French \u2013 and the wider world \u2013 will still be able to appreciate, and support, these expert artisans.<\/p>\n

Shining the light on French artisans<\/span><\/h1>\n

L\"MyFrenchLife\u2122<\/a>ucie Knappek is the founder of Evanela<\/a>, an agency organising unique experiences with French luxury and heritage craftsmen. Her aim is to \u201cgive value\u201d and \u201cshine the light on art craftsmen\u201d.<\/p>\n

She says that for some artisans today, the biggest challenge is often discovering their inner entrepreneur: being more than a creator, and understanding how to run a business as well. \u201cWhen you have your own business, the biggest challenge is to be profitable,\u201d she says. \u201cBecause artisans love to create, they don\u2019t often like selling. They would love their products to be sold without having to dedicate an important part of their time to sales. What\u2019s missing then is time. And maybe formation<\/em> – training.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because artisans love to create, they don\u2019t often like selling. They would love their products to be sold without having to dedicate an important part of their time to sales<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lucie’s own passion for art craftsmanship starts with her family. \u201cMy mother is a painter, and my great grandmother was a corset maker. So I think there is this thing from [my] family; a love for entrepreneurship,\u201d she says. \u201cI think I have two sides to my personality, the French side for the culture and the American side for entrepreneurship.\u201d<\/p>\n

She adds: \u201cI like painting and I also like creating decorative objects because my passion for arts crafts [comes] from decorative arts.”<\/p>\n

The origin story<\/span><\/h1>\n

The idea for Evanela began \u201ca long time ago\u201d, when Lucie was living in China. She was keen to \u201cmeet local talent; to meet Chinese people who would make something \u2018typical\u2019 from China\u201d and demonstrate their techniques to her. \u201cI didn\u2019t manage to meet these people because I didn\u2019t speak the language or know the network there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why, when I came back to France a few years later, I had this idea of creating a web platform that would collect or compile all that information, to enable people to find talented locals,\u201d she explains. \u201cAnd when I finally started working on the idea, I went to art craftsmen because that\u2019s what I love.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MyFrenchLife\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n

As with all entrepreneurial ventures, it was tough going at first. \u201cIt was difficult because not too many artisans have a website yet, or they have an old version of an old website that does not look good or is not representative of their products,\u201d says Lucie. \u201cPlatforms like Etsy are too mainstream, so they need to have specific platforms that correspond to their position.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is where Evanela comes in: giving a chance for artisans to reach their audience. Lucie says she and her team have met with about 150 artisans throughout France, and the list is diverse: \u201cartisans, they are present in all the fields of activity of creation – in fashion<\/a>, in jewellery, decoration, music, heritage restoration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Welcome to the workshop: ‘Genuine Moments’ and encounters with French artisans<\/span><\/h1>\n

Especially designed to enable people to live an authentic and human experience, Evanela has given a name to its encounters: Genuine Moments.<\/p>\n

These ‘Genuine Moments’ are organised between private clients or small groups and artisans. Each encounter is held in the artisan\u2019s workshop or in an exclusive venue that Evanela makes private for the occasion and in which the artisan recreates its universe for a global French art de vivre<\/em> experience. It begins with a ‘VIP welcome’, usually with a glass of champagne.<\/p>\n

What we do is really innovative, it doesn\u2019t exist anywhere else<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThen, the creator presents the history of his workshop and explains where we are \u2026 he shows us the different parts of the workshop and how it is organised, explains the technique from A to Z, describing the process of a creation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MyFrenchLife\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cSo if we take the example of an haute couture<\/em> gown, he will go from the draft of the artistic director to the final [product].\u201d<\/p>\n

Demand is determined by what clients (those who book \u2018encounters\u2019 with artisans) want. \u201cOf course, we always have requests for haute couture\u00a0<\/em>\u2026 [but] we want to shine the light on the little hands. Meaning, not those who are designing a Dior gown or Givenchy gown, but the partners who are working behind the scenes on feathers, embroidery, fans, and corsets, for instance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of their know-how, their techniques are as good as the ones you see in haute couture<\/em> workshops \u2013 in fact, they are [the ones] working for haute couture<\/em> anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says attendees are \u201calways surprised in a good way by the whole experience \u2026 because what we do is really innovative, it doesn\u2019t exist anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Which\u00a0workshop would you be interested in attending?<\/strong> Share your ideas in the comments below!<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Come with us and be inspired:
\n<\/a>Introduction<\/a> \/\/\u00a0Quelques Femmes du Numerique<\/a>\u00a0\/\/ Kasia Dietz
\n<\/a>Sandrine Benattar<\/a> \/\/\u00a0Christina Montenegro<\/a> \/\/\u00a0
\n<\/a>Tom Clarke<\/a>\u00a0\/\/\u00a0Felipe Perez<\/a>\u00a0\/\/\u00a0Marie Van Haecke<\/a>\u00a0\/\/ Nicolas Pi\u00e8gay<\/a>
\nLisa Vanden Bos<\/a> \/\/ Chris Nielsen<\/a>\u00a0\/\/ Olivier Magny and Nicolas Paradis<\/a>
\nLucie Knappek<\/a>\u00a0\/\/ Paul Arnephy<\/a>\u00a0\/\/ Caroline de Marchi<\/a><\/p>\n<\/address>\n

\n
All images courtesy of David Guersan and Evanela.<\/span><\/address>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meet Lucie Knappek, founder of Evanela, an agency that invites people to discover the work of French artisans. Through workshops, Lucie shines the light on traditional artisanal techniques, from embroidery to cabinet-making.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":901,"featured_media":78972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[1109,1086],"tags":[299,366,373,1168,1257,1435,1719,1871,98,2045,167,2194,190,2468,201,2661,213,2674,217,281,287],"class_list":["post-78956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fashion-mode-and-beaute","category-mode-and-beaute","tag-la-mode","tag-paris","tag-passion","tag-design","tag-luxury","tag-crafts","tag-artisans","tag-entrepreneurs","tag-art","tag-women-in-business","tag-couture","tag-creatives","tag-entrepreneur","tag-artisans-entrepreneurs","tag-fashion-2","tag-evanela","tag-france","tag-lucie-knappek","tag-francophile","tag-in-english","tag-interview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/901"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}