The art of buckling while respecting traditions by Karl Lemaire

Audio 03:01

Karl Lemaire, director of Maison Poursin © Melina Vemant

By: Maria Afonso

6 mins

For heritage days, Maria Afonso takes you to discover Maison Poursin, the oldest manufacture in Paris still in operation.

Karl Lemaire took over this shop and workshop in 2016. He thus continued the know-how of this famous house which was founded in 1830. In this place steeped in history, brass buckles are made for leather goods, upholstery, footwear, fashion and enthusiasts.  

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I make sure that there are still doors to cross in stores in the heart of Paris, to be inspired by what can be done in the future. 

Karl Lemaire, leader of the AC-DIS group of which Maison Poursin is a part comes from a family that made a fortune in organic farming, after the untimely death of his father, it is the end of an easy goal.

To provide for the needs of his family, at barely 21 years old, he is the manager of the company AC-DIS Accessory and Distribution.

He landed by chance in metallurgy and saved big names like Daudet and Poursin.  

Technical know-how and transmission 

He wants his approach to the company to be humanistic, the real value for him being human relationships, manual and technical know-how.  

In general for this know-how, we think a lot about products made by craftsmen in a manual way. I attribute the know-how also in the knowledge of the metal, here, the brass because it is necessary to have real knowledge. It comes in different forms and you have to know how to work it. This is passed on from generation to generation, over production, so my vocation is to ensure that this know-how is maintained through the employees. When I took over Poursin, there were two and a half positions, today there are ten. This really ensures, I hope in any case, in the future a transmission of the work of brass through its polishing, its welding, the brazing precisely or in the bending or the way of working this metal.

 "

Awareness of deindustrialization  

Karl Lemaire notes that after two years of the Covid-19 period, many French people have become aware of the country's deindustrialisation.  

"

Daudet, in the 90s, employed two thousand people, today thirty-five," he

says.

The Poursin house, there were about twenty, when I took over, there were only two left. I saved a factory which also works with brass in Lower Normandy, they were two hundred and fifty, they are now only four. I am from the generation that saw this deindustrialisation. I have seen workshop leaders who committed suicide because there was no longer any meaning in their life, it seems extreme but it is true! Entire regions have been affected, the North of France and even the East. Consume a product that is not necessarily luxury, authenticate a product of an artist or a designer, who works his handbag differently and while respecting environmental standards. We have to go towards this consumption, because it is the raison d'être of our industries, if we still manage to save them.Let's meet in ten years to see if we have succeeded "

, concludes Karl Lemaire. 

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