In its client file, the Hisle company has plenty of illustrious references, luxury companies whose names are known all over the world, but that’s it, it’s forbidden to advertise them. It is therefore in a submarine, as a “white label”, that Hisle manufactures the lights to order. The lines are then drawn by a designer outside the company, and Hisle gives it shape. It thus sells the trifle of 10,000 lamps per year.
Vannetaise since July 2021
Hisle has been Vannetaise since July 2021. Founded by Hervé Isle de Bauchaine and Marie de Foucault, it has made its mark and has become a reference in high-end lighting in Lyon, where it remained for more than 30 years, before moving to July 2021 in southern Morbihan. “To support its development, Hisle had to change location, which had become too cramped. Hervé Isle de Bauchaine and Marie de Foucault looked in vain for a solution in Lyon, before deciding to come to Vannes, on the advice of their son-in-law, Julien Ponsoye, who had become their partner and who knows the region well,” says Anne- Laure Jacob, in charge of corporate communication.
Ten hires
A company that has grown a lot in a short time. On disembarking in the former tax office, rue Thiers, she recruited ten people. The layout of the three-storey, 700 m² building is in the process of being finished. On the second floor is Hisle’s showroom. A place that cannot be visited at will, only by appointment. Iconic pieces created by Hervé Isle de Bauchaine are on display. Like this light that revolves around the blades of a reactor or this other whose center is a saw blade of the building.
“Hervé Isle began by working with discarded industrial parts. These pieces created in a single copy were the foundation of the company”. The art workshop component occupies the ground floor of the building. The other two floors are that of the factory where Hisle works anonymously to order, and a last where are produced in small series of lights and lamps that bear his name.
Develop a local network
It is to this category that the Luxciole belongs, a wireless lamp, the creation of which gave a boost to the company. “It was the beginning of wireless. Its success was a little confidential at first. The Luxciole really took off when it was noticed by well-known agents in the design world. This lamp has since been widely copied, because it has become an iconic model of the light,” says Anne-Laure Jacob.
This €495 lamp can be found on the tables of renowned hotels and restaurants in France and abroad. Half of the sales are for export. Locally Hisle intends to develop its network to explore new materials and work with creators.
