L’Atelier de St Jean is a woodworking workshop located at the southwestern tip of Brittany, in Saint Jean Trolimon, a few miles from the sea.
About
After many years in investment banking and the academia, I’ve taken the plunge to pursue my childhood dream of becoming a cabinetmaker.
In an effort to turn this dream into reality, I first attended La Bonne Graine, a vocational school located in Paris., where I earned a vocational certificate (“Certificat d’Aptitude Profesionnelle”) in cabinetmaking in 2015. The following year, I was lucky to attend a program in antique furniture restauration at Ecole Boulle.
Blog
Building a river table (version 1)
This is my first attempt to build a river table along the lines made popular by Greg Klassen. The starting point is a salvaged slab of Elm. The slab was milled and cut to size. I used epoxy mixed with TreeCell to fill the voids. A few coats of clear epoxy nicely enhances the wood grain. …
Restauring XVIII century shutters
I’m restauring a set of 6 interior window shutters that come from a building constructed around 1750. The shutters are vintage, just like the windows. They are made of oak, frame and panel construction held together with square pegs. Stripping the paint took a very long time, I counted 7 different colors, …
Drying live-edge slabs
Radical tree-trimming last winter has left us with a few logs of ash and walnut, which were sent to a local saw mill. Sawn in slabs 1.5″ thick, the boards will take a couple of years to dry. To speed-up drying and control insect damage, I peeled off the bark. The walnut …