June 24, 2024 — Off to MANUFACTURE MÉTIS, to finally meet Cédric, with whom we’ve been exchanging emails for nearly a year!
Around 10 a.m., we arrive in Étupes, near Montbéliard, France, under a blazing sun. In front of us, a gray building with red metal roll-up doors. Inside: Cédric’s workshop. A true jumble of machines, fabric rolls, and spools of thread — a textile Aladdin’s cave where your eyes don’t know where to land.
We meet Cédric: a tall, dark-haired young man with a shaved head, calm and composed, wearing a slight, enigmatic smile. He shows us his collection of fabrics, his machines, and begins, with disarming simplicity, to tell us his story.
The story of a self-taught weaver who, after attending business school and facing professional disillusionment in Paris, embarked on the crazy adventure of buying old weaving machines, restoring them, and creating a fabric workshop — mainly focused on métis (a cotton-linen blend) — all without any prior experience.
It’s easy to imagine the countless hours spent finding, fixing, and mastering these machines, but also the perseverance, courage, and determination it took to bring this project to life.
Cédric is quiet strength personified. A true MacGyver of weaving, for whom nothing is impossible.
Long live Manufacture Métis!
