The Léonard workshop at Saint-Brieuc assembles fine brushes for the beaux-arts trade and the big cosmetics houses. It has stayed in the same family for seven generations, and the visit follows that assembly step by step. Saint-Brieuc has been a brushmaking town for over a century: Raphael, Isabey and Léonard, in the Sauer group, are the last three fine-brush names in France. The know-how carries the Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant label.
Topic: events
Visite de l’atelier de costumes bretons Damm Veur
Damm Veur is the workshop of Mickaël, who makes and restores traditional Breton costume at Noyal-Pontivy. He works à l’ancienne: the seams are sewn by hand, and an old machine still turns beside him. The cloth he uses is antique or modern, chosen for what a given costume needs. The visit is to the bench itself, with the maker at work on it, not a finished garment behind glass.
Bal Basque Fest Noz au festival Dispar Amzer
Gavottes and andros fill the hall at Douarnenez, answered by dances from the Basque Country. Two Breton singing pairs carry the kan-ha-diskan, Diridollou with Lavigne and Quéré with Le Menn, while Bilaka Kolektiboa brings the Basque dance. Txistu, xirula, gaita and alboka sound against harp, bassoon and bombarde. Dixit sings with Morgane Gregory, Klervi Piel and Sterenn Toscer. The bal is one night of Festival Dispar Amzer at Place des Halles.
Dremmwel : quarante ans de scène
Dremmwel is a traditional-music group based at Quimper, and this concert marks the forty years it has spent on the road. The programme reworks part of its repertoire and honours the musicians who shaped it. The storyteller Patrik Ewen holds the narrative thread on the theme of the horizon, which is what dremmwel means in Breton. The guests around him include the harpist Klervi Rivière and the Bigouden ensemble Bagad Cap Caval.
Chaud ! Les châtaignes at La Ferme d’Antan
La Ferme d’Antan hands a whole day to the chestnut, at the hamlet of Saint Esprit des Bois in Plédéliac. The forge is run and loaves go into the oven while old trades are shown at work, beside rooms of autumn varieties, photographs and creative workshops. A meal at midday, tastings and a sale of produce carry the rest of the afternoon. The day ends in a fest-deiz, the dance taken in daylight, behind Asteure, Land Segal Trad and Nomad.
The île Vierge and its keepers, guided in breton
This walk on the île Vierge is delivered in breton, and its own announcement is written in that language before any other. The guide talks through the island’s history, its lighthouses and the life of the diwallerien, the keepers, in days gone by. The group gathers at Kastell Ac’h to take the boat, then has half an hour guided and half an hour free on the island. The tall lighthouse itself is not entered and the party stays between four and nine.
Emma Tribute plays Matmatah at the Triskell, Meucon
Emma Tribute is five Morbihan musicians who play the repertoire of Matmatah, and the Groupe Interquartiers Meucon Musique has booked them into the Salle du Triskell. The association files the evening under rock celtique et tradi, the Breton strand of the genre. The set runs from “Lambé An Dro” to “Brest-même”, songs a crowd here can sing back. A food truck and a bar stand outside the hall.
Island music at the Pointe du Raz
ID-Îles brings an afternoon on music and island life to the Maison de site de la Pointe du Raz. Nina Montagné’s documentary « Ouessant, île sera une fanfare », on that island’s brass band, opens it, followed by the music video « Dec’h ». Louis Brigand, a geography professor who specialises in islands, then gives an illustrated lecture. Michel Colleu, a collector of traditional maritime cultures, joins the filmmakers afterwards.
Pointe de Sel: fish leather at a Paimpol atelier
Pointe de Sel works leather drawn from the sea, and for this visit it opens the small atelier-boutique it keeps in the port of Paimpol. The artisans lay out the materials, the tools and each stage of making, then talk through what they are doing. The unusual part is the hide itself: fish skin, whose particular demands the workshop explains as it works. Two people must book for a visit to run, and the rooms take callers with disabilities.
Brasserie de Trévarn opens its brewhouse, Saint-Urbain
The Brasserie de Trévarn works out of a farm at Saint-Urbain, and it opens the brewhouse for the Breton tourist offices’ fortnight of company visits. The tour begins with the ingredients of beer, what each one is for and how it behaves. It follows the brewing itself and the styles that come out of it, then ends with a tasting and the chance to buy. The raw materials are mainly Breton and the beers carry the Nature et Progrès mention.