Maison Lemarie

Lemarie was founded by Palmyre Coyette (grandmother of Andre Lemarie) in 1880. Mr. Lemarie worked with Christian Dior, Balenciaga, Nina Ricci among others, and the atelier was the top feather workshop in France for years. Through out the years the craftsmanship of working with feathers has been disappearing; and Lemarie, is the only studio that is working in France. The studio was acquired by Chanel in 1996.

Lemarie works with feathers, man made flowers (Lemarie produces about 20,000 flowers each year for Chanel), and as well, produces smocking, inserts, trims for couture houses: Chanel, Dior, Lacroix, Givenchy, Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana and Armani.

Goossens Paris House and Chanel

Robert Goossens founded his atelier in 1950. He meet Chanel in 1953, and since then, she made him his jeweler. This encounter with Chanel makes him a super star and works with other fashion designers: Balenciaga, Gres, Yves Saint-Laurent among others. Currently, the house of Goossens is manage by his son Patrick Goossens and daughter Martine (who is the designer). Goosens has also made perfume bottles for Guerlain, Dior, Rykiel and Scherrer.

The House of Goossens was bought by Chanel in 2005. The following images are some pieces commissioned by Chanel and pieces that have been produce after Chanel's death.

Ecole Lesage...oh la la!

There is a great article about Lagerfeld, the House of Chanel and the most important ateliers that work for them (Chanel acquired these ateliers, but they let other Couture Houses like Dior use them) in the Wall Street Journal. There were two pieces of information that caught my eye. First, Lagerfeld explains the process he follows to create a collection: where his inspiration comes from, how the sketching process is done and the time frame it takes him to have a final product (shorter than I expected!). Secondly, and even more interesting to me, the article talks about the ateliers that Chanel uses to create their Haute Couture, Shoes, Hats, etc. So, without more delay, I embark in writing a small blog for each of these ateliers.

Lets begin !

ECOLE LESAGE

located in Paris, France at:

13 rue de la Grange
Batelier
75009 Paris, France
01 44 79 00 88

www.ecole-lesage-paris.com

An actual school, they have classes for enrichment purposes, as well as, for professionals. They teach the Art of Embroidery: beads, sequings, feathers, jewels, silk ribbon, among many techniques with needle and the Luneville hook.

They charge for enrichment classes 90 Euros per hour, and they have listed in their website the many choices of courses. These "amateur" lessons are in embroidery or interior design and furnishings.

Also, they have classes for the professional (embroidery (haute couture) and/or interior design and furnishings). The course for the professional is composed of 50 classes of 3 hours each at a rate of 6,279 Euros.

Following are pictures of the book they have published, the Luneville hook, and several samples of their work.