COVID-19 Diaries: Surviving COVID-19 As A Lacemaker In France

Sabine Halm worked as a lacemaker for 12 years in Saint-Sulpice-les-Feuilles, France, practicing the highly prized trade her family has been engaged in since the beginning of the 18th century. The trade had been making a comeback in the fashion industry in recent years… that is, until COVID-19 happened. We checked out how she’s been coping since. 

Q: How are you living these last weeks of confinement in the heart of the Limousin countryside? Has it changed the way you live every day?

A: The confinement has been disastrous for our art workshop! We were counting on the first sunny days, but the crisis hit us very hard instead. Trade shows and markets got canceled, suppliers closed, workshops-shops closed, courses and more courses got canceled… all for an extended period and an indefinite period. We lived through this confinement filled with questions, doubts, suddenly taken aback about the survival of our workshop. However, we remain confident about the future!

This “closure” allows us to rework projects that have been in the background for lack of time. We are rethinking all of our designs, the design of our patterns, and taking totally new turns! We will come out of confinement with new creations to present!

What makes your lace-making technique unique? And how did you acquire it?

It is the only lace that is executed using “knots”. My great-great-great-grandmother was already making this lace with knots. I didn’t know her, of course, so I had to relearn on my own. This know-how has existed for several centuries in our heritage! Very beautiful old works refer to them. They transport me “elsewhere” by leafing through them. It is like a mystical force which escapes me a little, but which remains obvious for me!

What are your projects in the coming year?

We’ve been turning to crowdfunding for several of our recent creations, doing presales, if you want! Ulule [a crowdfunding platform] allows us to continue to produce as best as possible, not to hibernate, to wake up in great shape! And we thus recreate a cash flow to pay our suppliers.

For the rest, we can’t wait to reopen our shop and resume our lessons. Many creations are coming, modern or old adornments, which will have to be made known and disseminated.

You’ve mastered the 4.0 tools (LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Ulule, etc). How do they benefit you and how do you use them?

The “4.0” tools are those of our generation. They talk to a lot, allow great encounters, give us very wide means of dissemination and are all adapted to our needs as craftsmen of the 21st century! “Artisans of art 4.0” (laughs)

Our vision of things for the next six months remains mixed: France is seen abroad as the “Country of Crafts”, and yet, even in normal times, our professions can be discredited, even considered obsolete or superfluous. Yet we too participate greatly in the economy of the country! Our jobs and, especially the human beings who “hide” behind them, are stuck in the heart of what makes the French genius!

What are your projects for the end of this year?

I will be exhibiting sculptures at the Carrousel du Louvre as part of the International Cultural Heritage Fair in October. I make my sculptures using a mixture of the three skills that I have learned: spinning, embroidery and lace. I combined them to arrive at the result of the technique for my sculptures.

You can find out more about Sabine’s laces at her website, www.madrigalb.com and information on the International Cultural Heritage Fair here.

More interviews with people affected by COVID-19 here.

Photographs courtesy and copyright of François Beauxis-Aussalet
Interviewer: François Beauxis-Aussalet
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