International Heritage Show: 22nd anniversary, November 3-6, 2016
“Remarkable cultural heritage projects”
This Thursday, November 3 is the opening day of the International Heritage Show’s 22nd annual trade fair at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris.
This event is organized by the Ateliers d’art de France and is under the patronage of the French President and UNESCO. Every year it attracts large numbers of visitors. Last year the event’s organizers counted more than 25,000 visitors.
During this three-day event the public is free to wander through the heart of Paris, stopping in at various and exciting conferences, workshops and exhibitions.
This year’s theme is: remarkable cultural heritage projects. More than forty trades will be represented at this event, including: stone sculptors, cabinetmakers, cutlers, art conservators…etc.
The cutlery museum is invited for the first time in its history
The President of the cutlery museum, Élise Cousin, will be the proud representative of Thiers’ cutlery heritage. Cousin is conscious about the need to defend “the cutlery from Thiers’ intangible heritage.”
There are not many stores in Paris that specialize in cutlery, so the cutlery museum’s stand will proudly fill this void during this three-day event. Cutlery lovers and curious individuals will be able to admire the display filled with numerous models of cutlery and exceptional cutlery pieces!
For this occasion, a wide range of high-end knives that embody the Thiers region’s expert skills will be put under the spotlight. Visitors will also be able to admire the following knives, among many others:
- The traditional pocketknife from Thiers®
- The Passe-Partout knife
- The knife from the Alps
- The Aile de Pigeon knife
- The Yssingeaux knife
Elise Cousin continued her statement by stating that it seems primordial to want to “preserve the cutlery trade’s intangible heritage by highlighting the importance of and passing down the skilled knowledge involved in the (cutlery trade).”
An important event for the cutlery museum from Thiers
Thiers will be placed in the limelight
The cutlery museum’s directors will represent all of the artisans and cutlery manufacturers from Thiers in Paris.
This will be the perfect occasion for these representatives from the Puy de Dôme region to exemplify the town’s image and to promote Thiers and its environs, its cutlery traditions and the region’s skilled knowledge in the cutlery sector. This event is also a chance to showcase the region’s dynamic way of life, which is sometimes underestimated on a national level and which deserves some recognition!
Things are evolving in a positive direction for this sector, as rumour has it that Thiers’ cultural cutlery heritage might be added to UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) sites. Thiers’ office of tourism will also take part in making this region’s cultural heritage known…
For now, one can support the cutlery museum, the city of Thiers and the Auvergne region by visiting the trade fair in Paris!
Specially engraved luxury knives
The Thiers cutlery museum’s resident cutler, Benjamin Girard, has participated in this event by creating 5 knives to commemorate this trade fair. Each of these knives took approximately fifty hours to complete, which is the price to pay for unparalleled quality.
This cutler’s masterful techniques and artistic sensibility allow him to create pieces of unequalled beauty. The handles of these pocketknives are unique and made of exceptional materials (prestigious woods such as Amboine and Cocobolo).
The cutlery museum’s stand will also be equipped with an engraving workshop. The ancient tradition of engraving intaglio printing with a cold chisel will be unveiled to the public. This is a moment that should not be missed, under any pretext!
We will end this article with a quote from Benjamin Girard: “Without seeming old-fashioned, we will show that, even if we work with our hands using expert and industrial skills, preserving and passing down this intangible heritage is made possible through demonstrations given by artisans. We will be present (at this trade fair) to act as mediators working to save the cutlery sector’s history and accumulated knowledge in the hopes of sparking people’s interest in this vocation, as this sector is a very fruitful one.”