In Lodève (Hérault), the Liciers impasse doesn’t seem like anything like that. A narrow, unvarnished street that leads to the foot of the mountains. However, it is here, at number 1, that the most beautiful carpets of the Republic are designed, those which adorn the halls and offices of the Elysée, ministries and embassies. It’s here, at the Lodève soap factorythat a truck from Mobilier national came to pick up the masterful rug, ordered by Brigitte Macron, for the library of the presidential palace: Eartha textile work measuring 3.5 m by 3.50 m, electric blue, black and white, showing moons orbiting our planet.
This is the very last carpet that the artists of the Savonnerie de Lodève, annex of the Gobelins factory, delivered to the State. This unique piece is estimated at around 300,000 euros. But no, don’t break your PEL, there is no question of this prestigious factory decorating the youngest child’s room: at the Savonnerie, only the State can place an order. “The Savonnerie de Lodève was created in 1964, just after the Algerian War, when Harki families had been welcomed in Lodévois,” confides to 20 minutes Jean-Marc Sauvier, its director. The Algerian women, most of whom made carpets on the other side of the Mediterranean, were quick to put their know-how to the benefit of a small workshop, installed in military barracks, in Lodève.
The makeshift workshop of Algerian liceresses connected to the Mobilier national
Quickly, André Malraux, who was then Minister of State for Cultural Affairs, decided to offer a little more recognition to these formidable liceresses, by connecting their makeshift factory to the Directorate of National Furniture. Parisian technicians then joined Algerian artisans in the South. Together they will form the only annex dedicated to the Gobelins tapestry, designed by Louis XIV four centuries ago to avoid having to buy carpets abroad. The Savonnerie de Lodève was born.
But it would be necessary to wait until the beginning of the 2000s for the quality of the work of the licières of Lodève to be recognized at the same level as that of the licières of Paris. From 2004, the letter “L” of Lodève is added to the “S” in the Savonnerie monogram affixed to the bottom of the weavings,” says journalist Josselyn Guillarmou, who wrote a long article on the Lodève factory, in the magazine Men & Migration.
“Manufacturing can last from a year and a half, up to seven years”
At the Savonnerie de Lodève, for almost sixty years, the techniques have not evolved much. The workshop perpetuates the tradition of hand weaving, thanks to impressive looms, which it is possible to approach during the guided tours organized regularly within this prestigious establishment*. “Manufacturing can last from a year and a half, up to seven years,” confides Jean-Marc Sauvier. The last rug [Terre] took 1,000 hours of work, approximately three years. These are carpets that can be kept for 200 or 300 years, without problem. »
Today, there are five carpets made in Lodève, at the Elysée. The others are kept safe, in the State furniture repository. And from time to time, when a new president is elected, or when a new minister is appointed, new orders are made to the Savonnerie, in agreement with the National Furniture inspectors.
Information on guided tours of the Savonnerie de Lodève, here.