A life sewn together with small pleasures

Signature N

Thick denim aprons with colourful top-stitching, a sports bag featuring one of Mr. Deblois’ canvasses, a cushion featuring a photo from the area’s early days decorated with raku buttons… Signature N’s textile creations, made by Nancy Giguère’s recognizable hand, appear to embody the Ateliers Charlevoix’s perfect meeting of minds. A newcomer to adventures in this community of creation and discovery, Nancy fell in love, both with the man and the potter, choosing put down roots here, personally and professionally, to be with Stéphane. And it’s clear that delight fills the air in the studios, settling on each of the precious pieces made with love by the artists’ hands.

Trained in fashion design and having worked with a company prior to launching her own line, Orka, in 1997, Nancy certainly has the skills, and now savours the joy of creating things on a smaller scale, by hand, far from the city and the whirlwind of major productions… One comes away with the feeling that she knows her textiles, their weight, and their feel. To say nothing of her sense of composition when she is playing with materials, colours, lines, and accessories and, in the end, with her impulse to please others through the things she creates!

Quilting in Four Stages

In the entrance hall to the new Club Med Charlevoix in Petite-Rivière-Saint-François, a monumental work sets the tone for decor arranged around ­aspects of Quebec’s heritage. The enormous wall hanging, in the form of a quilt designed by the couple and produced by Nancy, pulses with colour and ­includes textiles sections in the Charlevoix boutonné insertion weaving technique, sown by ­Anne-Marie Hamel, all under the aegis of Ateliers Charlevoix. Made of four panels, the mural forms the Étoile de Charlevoix [Charlevoix Star], a well-known motif in Charlevoix handicrafts. Among the squares of coloured fabric, some show watermarked photos of various features of the area’s culture. In a nutshell, it’s a source of pride to Ateliers Charlevoix that this work welcomes visitors from all around the world! Click the “Réalisations” tab on the Ateliers Charlevoix website to learn more about the artistic process that went into producing this work.