THE WOMAN BEHIND THE SILK STRAP

South of Lyon, in the Ardèche, in a former silk-twisting mill, Sara Revil runs La Passementerie Revil-Ronzière, a workshop built around a collection of nineteenth-century braiding looms she restored and brought back into production herself.

Her path to this work began not in textiles but in art history and museology, and it is this training in preservation that shapes how she works today. What she offers is not a faster or more efficient way of making a silk strap. It is the willingness to let the work take the time it takes, and a devotion to that way of working that is difficult to find elsewhere.

Only someone with Sara's regard for the craft, and clients willing to ask for a strap that takes an hour to produce for every metre, could sustain a workshop like hers.

Portrait of Sara Revil by Séverine Baur

AF: What is the story behind how you acquired the knowledge and expertise required to create haute couture braids and ribbons? What led you to take over this extraordinary collection of machines today?

S.R: I have a background in art history and museology. Through the course of my professional life, I came to discover these crafts. I spent six years working on the preservation and interpretation of the Maison des Tresses et Lacets, the conservatory dedicated to the know-how that I now practice.

By restoring these machines for the ecomuseum and researching the archives of this craft, I learned how to understand and operate their mechanisms. One day, drawing on this experience, I decided to establish my own workshop based on machines that I had restored and brought back into production.

Eleven years ago, I rebuilt a braiding workshop dedicated to developing haute couture braiding.

AF: Could you describe these machines in more detail? When were they manufactured, and how are they constructed?

S.R.: These are slow-revolution wooden braiding machines dating from the 19th century, known as Perrault looms, named after their original manufacturer. 

They operate using metal bobbins guided by a wooden switching mechanism shaped like a goose's foot. The braid is formed inside a braiding head.

For the AVILLAFRANCISKA production, two machines are used.

One 6-bobbin tubular loom, which produces the small braided cord that finishes the edge of the ribbon. And a 23-bobbin open loom. Each bobbin carries a spool of silk thread, with three parallel silk threads wound onto each spool to create the body and thickness of the braid.

The silk cords themselves rise from the back of the machine through vertical guides before being freely incorporated into the border of the ribbon.

It is a particularly complex setup that requires constant monitoring and careful attention.

AF: Are these machines still located in the same workshop or building where they were originally used?

S.R.: There is no historical workshop in the strict sense, as my workshop is a contemporary creation.

The looms originate from numerous 19th-century workshops and were brought together eleven years ago to form this unique atelier.

Today we are housed in former silk-twisting mills, which provide an exceptional and inspiring environment in which to work.

AF: Are you the only artisan or workshop in France still practising this type of production?

S.R.: No, there are other professionals, although very few remain. What makes this workshop unique is its ability to work with exceptional materials for small-scale, highly specialised productions with significant added value.

AF: Regarding the development you created for us, What materials were used?

S.R.: We use a so-called rustic silk, assembled and produced by the last remaining silk-twisting mill in the Pilat Regional Natural Park, in the Loire region of France.

AF: How many threads are required to braid or weave this ribbon?

S.R.: A total of 69 threads, plus two edge cords, each consisting of six threads.

AF: How long does it take to produce this ribbon?

S.R.: We produce one metre per hour.

AF: Does the technique you use have a specific name?

S.R.: The ribbon is produced on an open braiding loom.