The Community
Meet the artisans of beauty
B.fabers is a bridge between contemporary design and the finest French craftsmanship. We chose to build a horizontal model, founded on a collective of independent artisans. Why independence? Because it is the only guarantee of freedom, of diversity, of singularity.
Working with a plurality of hands means revealing craft as it truly is: rich in singular paths and skills handed down. The one who makes matters as much as the one who designs or the one who uses.
Our shared pillars
An exacting sense of beauty
an aesthetic that lasts, that works, and that carries meaning.
Respect for the living world
an immersion in wood as a material and in the land it comes from.
The network
an open ecosystem where designers, craftsman-makers, engineering studios and sawyers move forward together.
The Story
The encounters that shaped B.fabers
“This collection was not born in a design studio. It was born of encounters.”
Chapter I
The Birth of a Name
Before Victor, there was a conviction, with no certainty it would hold. So Tristan makes calls, many of them. An HR director wanting to talk furniture with an artisan is reason enough to hang up quickly: Victor almost did. The fifteen promised minutes become an hour. For the first time, someone grasps what Tristan is trying to build, before he has explained it all.
A week later, at their first meeting, Tristan shares the idea behind the name: B.fabers, thinking of the B of Bois (wood), and of future “artisans of Beauty”. But in his own mouth, Victor hears something else: “Be fabers… be artisans.” Then he raises his fist, gently: “Be fabers. Be proud to be artisans.” The name is sealed.
Victor is the first artisan to believe in it. Two weeks later, he puts Tristan in touch with Gilles: “The person you need.”
“A week later, at their first meeting, Tristan shares the idea behind the name: B.fabers, thinking of the B of Bois (wood), and of future “artisans of Beauty”.”
Chapter II
Six months with Gilles, to see whether the idea would stand up
Over several months, the exchanges multiply. Nothing is a project yet; a conviction is taking shape. Then comes the moment when Tristan proposes they formalise a research phase, together, to find out whether the idea stands up. A specification to write from scratch, quotes, first trials that may prove unusable. The question is a simple one: can the same drawing be shaped, in local solid wood, by different hands, without ever compromising on rigour?
Six months of work later, the answer is yes: the Fabers method works, and it can be passed on to other ateliers.
“Six months of work later, the answer is yes: the Fabers method works, and it can be passed on to other ateliers.”
Chapter III
Meeting Huub
“I lay claim to a share of the imperfect. It is what leaves everyone free to interpret the object.”
A coffee that turns into several hours. Huub is struck by the essential point: the place given to artisans does not always reflect what they bring.
A double signature, the designer's and the artisan's, seems obvious to him. One demanding question remains: can the same piece really be reproduced by different hands? He questions, comes back, digs deeper. It is the work already done with Victor and Gilles that tips the balance. Huub commits: he becomes the first designer to put the Fabers method to the test.
Chapter IV
The first prototype, at Gaëtan's
Gilles knows the right person to shape the first trial. On the phone, Tristan speaks of “noble wood” to mean oak or walnut. Gaëtan cuts in at once: “But every wood is noble.” That one sentence is enough to reveal how he works. An hour's call later, this fourth-generation joiner agrees to rearrange his schedule.
In his atelier, the four of them, something shifts. Huub understands that these talents, brought together, make possible what looked risky on paper. A console is born that day: Nescio. Then a second piece, a third.
Forty-one references later, the adventure is still being written. Malt & Bois has joined the Fabers method with its own way of working, its tools, its rigour. It confirms that this method, designed from the outset to grow, can welcome far more than the first team.
Other ateliers, in sympathy with this vision, are ready to join as the order book opens.
“Huub understands that these talents, brought together, make possible what looked risky on paper.”
