The importance of detail
As if on cue, Patrick Tourre smokes a last cigarette on the banks of the D906 in Olliergues. Indeed, in front of his workshop l’Île aux crayons, where the shaggy giant is preparing to hold the twenty or so spectator-visitors spellbound, the craftsman has a (good) word for it. He wears a warm smile behind a surgical mask (Covid-19 obliges).
Once again, as he does every year and several times a day, the Ollierguois is getting ready to put on a show.
For an hour, in a skilful blend of bonhomie, humor and pedagogy, Patrick Tourre presents his business. He’s been in the business for over twenty years. The man settled in Olliergues in the early 2000s. It’s here that he designs and fashions singular pencils with raw forms. They are shaped like the tree branches he uses.
” My work consists of making pencils mainly from willow or wicker “, he sums up in the preamble to his lengthy demonstration. In the freshness of a workshop in his image: posters of Nougaro and Rita Mitsouko on the walls, old carpets strewn with wood shavings on which school benches have been lined up, not forgetting the scent of wood from the barns of yesteryear.
” I’m a pretty messy guy,” admits Patrick Tourre, fully aware of the importance of the visual. “I didn’t want a ‘Mode et travaux‘ interior. Here, every detail has its importance, and I want people to be able to fixate on one of the objects. Some are deliberately camouflaged. You have to make an effort to be amazed. Sitting behind his lathe facing the public, the craftsman continues his explanations.
I fetch my wood from the surrounding countryside,” he explains. I cut small 22-centimeter pieces. With a wood bit, I drill holes on one side and the other to insert two leads, one in each hole.
Then comes the practice. Leaning over his lathe, the craftsman with the predestined name performs the almost infinitely reproducible gesture in front of the audience. Each year, Patrick Tourre produces up to 6,000 pencils by hand.
In front of a captivated audience, whom he doesn’t hesitate to question or gently provoke, the man digresses on the essence of trees and their color.
” This tree is black, but when it’s still green, it’s red “, or aspirin. Not forgetting to talk about pencils.
Proof that the lead doesn’t break when the pencil is dropped.
” It breaks when you sharpen it,” he assures us. And how to sharpen the object correctly: ” You have to turn the sharpener, not the pencil.
