In Conversation With
Virgil Viret
from Lafayette Saltiel Drapiers
Interview by Déborah Sitbon Neuberg
Virgil Viret
Hello Virgil. I'm delighted to have this conversation with you.
Hello, Déborah.
Can you tell us the story of Lafayette Saltiel?
Lafayette Saltiel is a haberdashery and drapery business that dates back to 1925. It was founded by a family of Greek immigrants called the Saltiels. They owned the company until the 1970s. My grandfather, an Armenian immigrant, owned the Lafayette haberdashery and did exactly the same kind of work. In the 1970s, the Saltiel family wanted to stop and my grandfather took over the company. That's how it came to be called Lafayette Saltiel Drapiers, combining their two names.
What was your Armenian grandfather's name? When did they come to France?
His name was Charles Yazegian. They came before the war, at the time of the Armenian genocide. After travelling around Europe, they arrived here, probably in the 1920s.
Were they in the drapery business in Armenia?
No, they were in tobacco! But it was in Turkey, because it seems to me that Armenia didn't exist at the time... My great-grandfather went into this business because it was an immigrant trade - sewing, shoes, all the things you could learn without speaking, where you could show each other how to do things because you didn't speak the same language. A bit like in the kitchens...!
Initially, they were on rue de Belfond in the second arrondissement, but then my grandfather went off to war. He was captured by the Germans, and that's where he learned to sew. When he came back, he set up a workshop making made-to-measure suits on the Champs Elysées, with a Spanish tailor with whom he had formed a partnership. Then my great-grandfather asked him to return to the family business.
Richard Ayoade wearing our Padded Work Jacket in Vintage Cotton Bed-Covers
How was this story passed on to you ?
My grandfather didn't talk about it, so it was passed on when I started working in the trade.
What made you decide to take over the family business?
My grandfather was 91. I was finishing my studies, and when I came to Paris, I thought I should see what this family business was all about. I did an internship there, and then I stayed on. What I liked was the fact that we were selling quality items. I thought they were useful and I liked the people who bought them. I thought it was a shame not to have that any more, so I carried on.
Is there a heritage aspect to your approach: the preservation of something that was in danger of disappearing?
Yes, there was that. Preserving the team that had been there for a long time. Preserving the place. And then to see if I could do something with it.
So, do you think you succeeded?
I think I've managed to do a lot of things with it. It's not just me in the business, of course. But I have done some new things, such as acting as an agent for Italian and English textile factories. This has become our core business. Then there’s our vintage fabrics, for which we are know for. For me, it's a hobby, not really a business. In reality, we don't want to sell these fabrics, because then there will never be any more. It's hard for me to put a price on them, and I like it when people really want to buy them, when they mean something to them.
Finally, we have a business where we sell haberdashery for tailors and luxury houses: threads, fabrics and linings for clothing.
As an agent, how did you come to have access to such prestigious weavers?
It's all down to luck. There are people who have helped me. There was a time when we stopped making collections ourselves and wanted to start representing factories. It was Jean-Marie Quenault, whom you know, who saved our business. He put us in touch with a company in England that was looking for someone. We started with them. It was very hard to make the transition from wholesaler to agent. But after a while, we started working with other mills that we believe complement each other, and thing developed quite naturally.
What is your relationship with the weavers who are making beautiful things today and the weavers of the past, whose stocks you hold?
People often come across old fabrics and think they're wonderful because they're old. It's like people who think it's marvellous when it's made in France, but it has to be marvellous in itself, it has to justify its existence...! So we, who see a lot of collections, also see that from time to time, in the past, they made fabrics that weren't so great! It's true that there are some that are exceptional because they are very difficult to make, and would be very expensive to make today, or because they have very beautiful colours. However, there are also some that are better made now than they used to be. That's what's interesting: not just having a sort of nostalgia for something that no longer exists, without any technical justification.
Talking of our collaboration, did you expect someone to find a meaning in these bedsheets?
I thought so because they're things we still have in stock. They're very high quality fabrics, Egyptian cotton with a very high thread count. It's a beautiful collection that dates back to the 1990s. At the time, it was very luxurious.
It was an Italian house from the 1960s because I think we looked at the brand.
Yes, Caleffi. When you have something in stock that isn't that great, you don't really want to promote it. But I've always thought it would be a shame not to do something with it. It was your idea to make these two pieces. I think these motifs have a very Provençal feel. I come from that area and I've always thought that the prints were pretty and the colours well thought out.
I didn't know you were from Provence too?
Yes, from Avignon, on my father's side. My grandmother had a fashion house in Nice a long time ago.
A few years ago, we made a capsule called ‘Les Indiennes en Provence’. It went back to the origins of these Provençal motifs and linked them to the “Indiennes” and the woodblock prints that existed in India and Persia, which then gave rise to the prints on cotton fabrics that are found in the Provence repertoire. For me too, it was a motif we'd already explored at De Bonne Facture. Also, we already made shirts from "Fleur Bleue" vintage bedsheets, in a cotton and linen “métis” from the Vosges, dating from the late 19th century. We bought a deadstock of these sheets and cut a limited edition of shirts out of them. They were sold in Japan.
It's a great project.
You're bringing a pretty spectacular place to life in Paris. Do you know other people, in other cities or other countries, who do more or less the same job as you and who are from our generation?
In Milan, there's a family that has a place with lots of fabrics, “Il Vecchio Drappiere”. It's quite modern. People buy their fabrics there and take them to the tailors, as they used to do. Before, there was this tradition of going to the draper's and buying fabrics. Then they would take them to the tailors. Now the tailors have the bundles and do this part of the work.
In Vienna, there's a shop called ‘Jungmann & Neffe’, which also does this, and it's a magnificent place. But I think we're probably the only three people in Europe who do this. After that, you could say that the Saint-Pierre market in Paris is a drapery, because you can go and buy fabric cuts. But in the traditional sense, there are very few of us.
In France, we have great projects from time to time with the film industry, in quite creative areas. But I've always found it difficult to do things with companies in France. So I'm glad we've managed to do it together.
Thanks Virgil!
