Simplythe passion the observation and lot of work

Creator of artistic fans, Sylvain Le Guen is an artisan of exception since there only three in France. Installed in the Drôme, Saillans, he just know a kind of consecration for twenty-nine years through some 30 fans for the film Marie-"Antoinette" of Sofia Coppola, recently released on the screens.

As far as he can remember, Sylvain Le Guen has always been fascinated by the range. By the magical side of this small object folded on itself and which, once unfolded, opens on a world artistic and magic. Thus its first pocket money went to the purchase of a Chinese range and, at the age of ten,

He started to make itself with wood from crates, in drawing at the time of his sense of observation, an innate gift of the drawing and reading many books. Which is probably on the history and evolution of what of some believe to be just a small portable accessory,

He shows dunce and inexhaustible.

Born of the domestication of fire by man, which was that a simple sheet indeed experienced over time of major technical and artistic developments in turn or simultaneously in

the Egyptians, the Greeks,

the Romans and the far East the role of a mere Utility tool, an object of sacred art or emblem of power. But it is still that of rigid fans. The great revolution was to come at the end of the 9th century Japanese, inventors of the folding range. Introduced in Europe by browsers and the Court of France by Catherine de Médicis, he became accessory jewelry and fashion for its first golden era as early as the 18th century and become

a veritable industry of labour to the beginning

of the 20th century. But between the wars was to mark the beginning of the decline.

So today ' hui created exclusively for collectors and museums.

It was his meeting with Fabienne Falluel, curator of the accessories of the Museum

the city of Paris fashion

(the Museum Galliéra), also President of the circle of the range, which, in 2000, decided Sylvain Le Guen to the next step. So far, studies of languages had led him to the SNCF.

School of art, not learning, the perfect autodidact workshop. Simply

the passion, the observation and lot of work. Influenced by Japanese design, and drawing inspiration from origami (the art of paper folding), our éventailliste develops fully creations by intervening at all stages of manufacturing to make true works of art. "This allows to have a total harmony between the leaf and the frame," he said.

This means a half of operations, which were most often carried out by different people.

A dozen for the frame,

the drawing

scale

at the finish.

passing

by the cutting

of the material.

the pattern,

the shaping

the collage

ends,

sanding

finishing,

polishing,

the reperçage

the engraving

and the sculpture. And half a dozen for the map, drawing

in the trimming

passing

by choosing

materials,

the décor and the wrinkling.

The creation of a range can apply up to 60 hours of work and prices change from 300 to 2,000 euros depending on the materials used:

wood, bone, metal and

for synthetic materials

the mount; all textiles, paper or leather for the sheet.

Main clients of the drômois éventailliste:

collectors exhibitions, sales at Drouot or deposits-sales of the Gallery Saboudjan, the Louvre des Antiquaires, Paris, and two stores the curious, also in Paris.

And the ultimate: the Fan Museum in London, the first global museum devoted to fans.