Severina Lartigue is one of the rare heiresses of a know-how, the one of the creation of artificial flowers. A work for which the realisation of each flower requires a know-how almost forgotten, very technical and at the same time intuitive, long to acquire.
Séverina has found her vocation during an exhibition about craftsmen and elegance in the Museum of Arts and Popular Traditions in 1993. That day, the visit to this exhibition and to the artificial florist was a revelation. Since everything has been going very fast, after getting a landscape designer’s diploma, Séverina got trained by watching and studying the best craftsmen in this technique to finally acquire in 1996 the diploma of Creation of artificial flowers.
Séverina Lartigue is very courageous and this is why she decided to undertake the creation of her own workshop 9 years ago.
Create a workshop means: to find the tools, punches, gaufroirs… many tools which are not manufactured any more and wanted by the collectors. Since 2001, she works for the biggest names in
the Haute-Couture’s industry. From this industry she likes “the idea that the making of an outfit requires a multitude of craftsmen;
the team spirit and the discretion of the craftsmen all in the name of beauty.”
To create a flower, Séverina starts from the fabric, thinks about the outfit, imagines the woman who will wear it so that all is harmonious. Sometimes, it will be necessary to spend days and even nights of reflexion and research to find the most adequate tool,
a colour truer than natural and then heat, shape and reshape each petal to finally see the flower hatching. One of the most unusual orders that Severina received over the past 9 years, is the one of a young groom wanting to give to his wife for their 2nd anniversary,
a bunch of red roses entirely made of leather; weeks of work have been necessary for Severina to complete this wish.
Today Séverina Lartigue is a young woman always passionate and amazed by each artificial petal; the project for a shop and a carnet de voyage… Séverina lives flower, thinks flower, dreams flower.
Creation of artificial flowers Severina Lartigue
Report Céline Charlot
Workshop Séverina Lartigue
Extract Show Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture A/H 05-06