At the whim of her inspiration, Armelle B. is creating hand-turned wooden pens, customizable on request. The result of a professional reconversion that allowed her to find her way in the craft industry.
Armelle Fayard has always put her heart into what she is doing. Before settling down in St-Martin last summer, she was a customer advisor in a large banking group in mainland France and did not count her working hours. “At some point, my body said stop,” she says. Despite her love for her job, Armelle decided to listen to herself. On sick leave for a year, she took the opportunity to tinker, restore furniture and engage in manual work. An activity that she always had in her, being the daughter of a mechanic and a tinkerer at heart.
While she was going to the premises of an organization to cut a piece of wood needed to revamp a piece of furniture, Armelle met retirees who taught her how to cut wood. She also discovered woodturning and, pushed by a woman who made pens, fell in love for this type of craft and she got trained for it. In parallel, she pursued her family project to turn her life around by settling in St-Martin. “I arrived with three or four pens that I had made and I got caught in my own game”, she explains. “The people I met, including Loïc from Atelier OLDA, with whom I did a one-week internship, have encouraged me and pushed me to continue.” After a skills assessment and several internships, she committed heart and soul to her new profession.
FREEDOM OF CREATION
Armelle B. - name of her bright new brand - is offering a wide variety of high-end pens, beautiful objects to offer someone or to offer oneself. “Every pen I create, I want to keep it for myself!”, she tells us laughing. The craftswoman varies mechanisms (ballpoint, roller or fountain pen), shapes and wood types (charm, walnut, boxwood, ash but also precious woods such as ebony or Burmese teak) according to her inspiration and to the request of customers who can order their personalized pen. It is also possible to customize it thanks to the partnership she has with the laser engraving specialist Atelier OLDA. Armelle’s goal with these totally unique pieces is: “to offer something that you will never find in the shops”. For her, this “total freedom” in the creation and management of her activity is a rebirth. “I can both be quiet in my workshop and meet people in the markets. It’s a new life, a new page to write. I needed it.”
Armelle B.’s pretty creations are available at Voilà in Grand Case and every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evening at the craft market of the Orient Bay village square. You will also be able to meet Armelle at her stand at the Mardis de Grand Case.
CONTACT
Instagram : @armelleb.fr
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