Book: Travel diary in the land of arts and crafts

The Duchess’ handkerchief - Journey to the heart of artistic craftsmanship, new book by Bérengère Desdonner at Editions Riveneuve

Invited to pull the thread of the Duchess of Chevreuse’s handkerchief in The Three Musketeers, the reader explores several excellent trades. In the company of Rousseau, Andersen or Mallarmé, he met some twenty craftsmen - wood turner, luthier, stonemason, fan maker, perfumer... - rich in a complex know-how stemming from a tradition sometimes secular. Endowed with the little story hidden in the big one, the object becomes a bearer of memory and intelligence, sometimes an act of survival or a gesture of poetry. Unique, it is proof of audacity and courage to still exist today. Very illustrated, with a glossary and addresses, this guide offers a sentimental journey to rethink one’s relationship to the object, especially to the object of art. It dispenses a philosophy advocating the creation, personal to each, of a true art of living.

Authors biography

Born in 1971 in Lille, Bérengère Desdonner is a journalist, photographer and cartoonist for the "art of living - tourism" press as well as a model for artists such as Bettina Rheims, Pascal Colrat and Alain Fleisher. Fascinated very early on by literature and the Arts, she dreams of a "tailor-made" universe, following the example of Alexandre Dumas. The Duchess’s handkerchief is a way of responding to it and contributing to it. She is the author, in collaboration with C. Shanté-Angelé and J. Gouvès, of A la table des fées (La Renaissance du Livre, 2002) and La Dentelle d’Alençon, une reine (De Saxe, 2012). Noëlle Bittner was editor-in-chief of decoration and lifestyle magazines ("Côté Est", "Côté Ouest" and "Côté Paris") after having collaborated with "Elle USA".

https://www.librairie-plumeetfabulettes.fr/livre/10061441-le-mouchoir-de-la-duchesse-voyage-au-coeur-de--desmettre-berengere-riveneuve