2024-02-11 07:03:00
Transmission, the cardinal value of the Companions of Duty. It was through Xavier Bonnet, with whom she trained, that Amandine Cambet, an upholsterer from Béarn, developed a taste for heritage and the history of art. Installed at the Laherrère center (1), in the Zaragoza district of Pau since August 2023, she carries out her restoration work in the philosophy of the Companion who died prematurely.
“Specialist of the 17th and 18th centuries, he reproduced identically, with…
Transmission, the cardinal value of the Companions of Duty. It was through Xavier Bonnet, with whom she trained, that Amandine Cambet, an upholsterer from Béarn, developed a taste for heritage and the history of art. Installed at the Laherrère center (1), in the Zaragoza district of Pau since August 2023, she carries out her restoration work in the philosophy of the Companion who died prematurely.
“A specialist in the 17th and 18th centuries, he reproduced identically, with period materials. I wanted to continue what we were doing, and that’s also what I want to pass on,” says Amandine Cambet. The 33-year-old upholsterer completed his Compagnons du Devoir tour of France after working in Paris, Angers, Cagnes-sur-Mer, La Rochelle, Lyon and Angoulême.
Amandine Cambet (right) works with her sister Mathilde.
Quentin TOP/SOUTH WEST
She moved to Rouen in 2019 in a business incubator. For example, she carefully refreshed the Rouen tapestry, with a surface area of 85 m², in the hotel of the Department of Seine-Maritime. She then returned to her family, near Orthez in Béarn.
Redo the garnish
With the help of her sister Mathilde, who manages all the administration, the 33-year-old young woman, now Companion, leads her own projects. “What excites me are the really old pieces where we have clues to find how they were made at the time. With what color, what type of fabric…” says the thirty-year-old who is also capable of making contemporary objects.
On a huge table, two chairs are waiting to be scrutinized by Amandine Cambet. They come from Abbadia castle, in Hendaye. The upholstery really needs the care of the upholsterer. In one of the two, the upholsterer has already added horsehair to reupholster the seat. Then the fabric was tightened. For fixing, she preferred “stainless steel staples so they don’t rust” to the usual seeds (kind of small beveled nails).
What excites me are the really old pieces where we have clues to how they were made at the time. »
On her phone, Mathilde shows the work already done by her sister at the castle in a bright red room. “This is Antoine d’Abbadie’s room. At the castle, they found fragments of fabric. We remade the bed, hung the fabrics, redecorated the window (curtains, drapes, valance). We made the room from A to Z on this site, right down to the last bed element,” explains Amandine Cambet.
Armchairs and chairs sit in Amandine Cambet’s workshop.
Quentin TOP/SOUTH WEST
Marie Antoinette’s sofa
A fan of high-end projects, she flew to the United States last month to work on a sofa that belonged to the Queen of France Marie-Antoinette and which is now the property of a San Francisco museum. “Last year, we redid the trim and this year the installation.” For this last, meticulous step, 336 hours of work were necessary, carried out by three people.
The braids and fabric of Marie-Antoinette’s sofa, restored by Amandine Cambet in the United States.
Quentin TOP/SOUTH WEST
Tackling such old furniture is obviously not without constraints. “The wood of the sofa was damaged, we couldn’t fix anything directly,” recalls Amandine Cambet. We made a frame in the frame where we stretched a fabric. We then sewed the sofa fabric to the frame fabric. »
The ramponneau, a sort of hammer, which magnetizes small beveled nails, the seeds.
Quentin TOP/SOUTH WEST
In his large and bright workshop at the Laherrère center, where an inauguration is planned at the end of the month, the chairs are hung, the armchairs sit in majesty. The height of the ceiling allows you to work well on the curtains. Sewing is mainly done on the mezzanine where the fabrics are stored.
Hammer to the mouth
Near the chairs, the tools hang on the wall. Amandine Cambet takes on the emblematic object of upholsterers: the ramponneau. This sort of hammer with a magnetic tip attracts the seeds. “Each seed size corresponds to a siege stage. The very large ones are used for the strap underneath, the very small ones are for the fabric. » To plant them, Amandine Cambet wedges a nail between her lips, brings the hammer to her mouth and pushes the seed into the wood.
The thirty-year-old, modest about her work, is ready to share the subtleties of her job with another person. Why not a young person who could reside in the house of the companions of Gelos. So that the torch of transmission passes once again.
(1) 15, place Laherrère, contact au 07 66 23 25 03.
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