Laëtitia introduces candle-making through touch, scent and a small candle that participants pour themselves. At Ty Bougies in Tréguier, the visit moves from handling wax to exploring the fragrances used in the craft. The associated Ty Créateurs shop also displays work by other local artisans, extending the encounter with Breton handmade production.
Tag: traditional-crafts
vendanges
At Saint-Brice in Chartres, the grape harvest becomes the centre of a broad popular celebration led by the Free Commune. Residents are invited into the work of gathering grapes, linking the occasion directly to the cultivated Clos Jacky-Baroche and local viticulture. Parades and shows bring a festive dimension, while demonstrations present traditional crafts associated with Beauce, Perche and neighbouring territories. A farmers’ market, refreshments and shared dining keep agricultural products and conviviality close to the public programme. The gathering treats the harvest as lived agricultural practice, connecting an urban neighbourhood with seasonal labour, regional know-how and the collective customs through which wine culture is maintained through repeated acts of shared care.
Breton Headdresses at Saint-Jacut
Jean-Michel Le Méhauté gathers Breton coiffes and costume pieces as objects of textile skill, family memory and terroir identity. Embroidery, folded fabric, color and hairstyle show how each community marked belonging through dress. The Saint-Jacut exhibition treats the collector as a passeur de mémoire, shaped by conversations with elders and by the pleated coq headdress of the Emerald Coast.
Fête d’Automne at Argol
Fête d’Automne turns the Musée vivant des vieux métiers in Argol into a working catalogue of rural know-how. Demonstrations range from blacksmithing, woodturning and basketry to linen, hemp, embroidery, butter making, apple pressing and bread baked over fire. Breton dance and domestic scenes in Ty Coz keep the crafts tied to everyday memory on the Crozon peninsula.
La Foire aux chevaux à l’ancienne
La Foire aux chevaux à l’ancienne keeps Carhaix-Plouguer’s equestrian culture in public view through Breton riding horses, draft horses and young stock. Farriery demonstrations and maneuverability contests show the practical skills behind rural horse work. Food stalls and gathering customs give the fair the feel of a central Brittany meeting place shaped by animal breeding, craft and market memory.
C’est un pays de mystères
C’est un pays de mystères gathers Erwan Balcou’s engravings, ceramics and artist’s books around worlds of travel, legend and elemental forces. His end-grain method cuts apple, pear, holly or boxwood with a burin, leaving each printed image inside the irregular contour of the branch. Breton and Arthurian echoes meet megaliths, springs and trees; poet Annie Pennanec’h adds a dialogue between carved image and written imagination.
Jeanne Malivel Craft Conference
This conference places Jeanne Malivel at the centre of the Breton applied arts revival. Historian Olivier Levasseur examines her projects and the role of artisans and industrial partners, often from the Côtes-d’Armor, in renewing regional forms. Malivel’s work connects modern design and craft production with the search for a distinctly Breton visual language.
Moby Dick Distillery Heritage Visit
Moby Dick distillery presents Breton craft through plants, copper stills and slow double distillation near Pointe du Raz. The visit explains spirits made from cultivated or gathered botanicals, from whisky and gin to lambig and liqueurs. The heritage visit connects rural botanicals, traditional distilling methods and contemporary experimentation on the Pointe du Raz coast.
Enamelled Lava Workshop
Émail et Merveilles, an artisan workshop in Jenzat, introduces participants to Auvergne’s craft of enamelling volcanic lava. Each participant creates a personal plaque measuring fifteen by fifteen centimetres from the stone associated with the region’s volcanoes. The introductory workshop welcomes adults and children from age ten.
Festival des Filets Bleus: Free Concerts – 15 August
This Festival des Filets Bleus programme day shows Concarneau’s celebration through costume, Celtic circles, embroidery, Breton language and stage music. The Kement Tu performances, headdress fitting, talks and concerts connect craft, dance and civic festival life. Children, makers, musicians and speakers keep the port town’s social and visual heritage in active circulation.