P & V

Each day is always dedicated to imagine, to cut, to zigzag, to wash, to sew, to write, to print, to eliminate, to move, to disturb, to exchange, to search, to design, to sail … excuse me! to sell bags and other white shapes made out of second-hand sails.
To ask us also about the horizon.

1997 The beggining  – Les Saintes (FWI)

From the tiny isle of Terre de Haut, in the Caribbean Arc, where Vincenzo and I met.

– he wanted a sail in order to get farther;
– I had just cut one, which I salvaged from the shipwreck of “Bel Moun”, my wooden cotre, in order to carry my notebooks, my pair of flippers and the fishes I had caught.

1998  Land of great navigateurs – St.Malo (Brittany)

The wind blows us to Saint Malo. Our geographical origins are different, our professional area is diverse (education/pharmacy), so we imagine this “job” to built together.

There was no lack of managerial procedures: creation of the brand Relations de voyages® (testimonies of stops where we would lay down our bag), registration of the brand and models, commercial distribution and the first expo 1ère Classe in Paris.

Then definition of our sailing route, on the open sea, to stay awake.

1998 The trade winds – Marie-Galante (FWI)

But, we miss the horizon; and the Trade winds too. One more journey across the Ocean, Marie-Galante welcomes us.
We buy tired sails from tireless sailors or from Anke, at ShipO’Case’s.

In the shadow of a tree of the bread-fruit, on the beach of Folle Anse, near St.Louis, they turned into sheer, spontaneous and sometimes imperfect bags with a holiday mood, and they were appreciated by the Europeans and the Americans who were discovering the island.

In the tropical heat, the want of seasonal contrast made novelty – and we think creativity along with it – to grow useless; we are not meant to age that peacefully.

2001 Art and Crafts – Pietrasanta (Tuscany)

We head for Italy, where Vincenzo grew up, and which I know at this time according to some stereotypes.

This long journey without return date delights us because it let us share the every-day life of the locals, HERE.

It is in Pietrasanta, Tuscany, that we moor our work-shop for four years; an international little town, where craftsmen and celebrated artists carve the white Carrara marble into any shape.
In the full summer sun, “carré”, “paiolo” and “A. Magon” cheerfully defy fake bags on the beach of the exclusive resorts in Versilia. In the winter time, we would join and work with a show-room in Milan in order to retail our creations — always in small quantities — in the Mediterranean area (Portofino, Riccione) or abroad (Japan).

2006  Finis Terrae – Porspoder (Brittany)

The head turned to the sky, a “bambino” under one arm the sewing machine under the other, we return to the big West of Europe, on Brittany’s headland called Pays d’Iroise in Porspoder and also on a website, so as to meet you.

Iroise is the land of sea sprays and breakers arising from the waves; it is the land of black rocks challenging and struggling against the Atlantic Ocean and the Channel; it is the land of my grandparents too.
It must be believed that we needed this wind, which blows through our ears, and this salt, which flicks its tongue over the neck of the yellow oilskin; we needed the moon nights and the beacons which shed their light upon this route, where small white shapes are sown; shapes in which anybody can carry his/her own “nécéssaire”.

2008 The port of La Pérouse – Brest ( Brittany)

Brest where François Marie L’Hostis an ancestor of mine, embarked in 1785 aboard one of the two frigates of the La Pérouse Scientific Expedition. Brest where our new base is anchored,in the heart of Siam area, designed as a sunny bubble full of italian vowels is a new big step : to offer to Brittany people, in addition to travel Relations accessories made with local sails, small treasures of textile design Made in Italy.

To find these “little treasures” (Herno trench, CP Company and Stone Island parka, Paolo Errico knitting, Ma’ry’ya, Masnada knits, DOUUOD or Praio sweats, Alessandro Gherardeschi shirts, Faliero Sarti stoles, Goti or Maria Calderara jewelries, Meo Fusciuni perfumes, N°10 ou Fausto Santini leathers, Shoto boots or Pantofola d’Oro sneakers …. ) we go diving twice a year in Milan at the Fiera WHITE, at MICAM, and Florence Pitti Imagine, in showrooms scattered throughout the city to meet the creators or their agents, eager to learn some of their skills, knowledge of fabrics and current and traditional techniques and eager to order a part of their new collection.

2015 Design – Italy

Bubble Brest melted. Not the memory of the beautiful encounters ; not our enthusiasm.

We definitely realize that it is the workshops, engine rooms, laboratories that attract us.

And Italy is a cauldron of creativity, where the senses are stimulated simultaneously by taste and respect for traditional and a serious joyful attraction -despite adversity- for the invention of the future.

Pascale L.C.