Handicraft
Handicraft Local productions
Published on May 31, 2024
The Pays des Ecrins has a long list of remarkable products imagined by producers and craftsmen who love the territory. Whether they are creators, breeders, farmers or artists, the mountains are their muse.
Pelva, responsible jewelry
Jewelry made of fine stones, bangles, an eco-responsible vegan leather collection called “the vegetable”, the ranges of jewelry designed by Fanny Balcet draw their essence from the play of colors and materials as much as from the surrounding nature. A student of fine arts and a regular in painting classes since childhood, the designer who created her brand, Pelva, in 2017, seeks her inspiration in the environment around her. A precious source for this lover of the mountains and Vallouise. As proof, the rushes, his signature jewels, follow the particular shapes of the peaks of the Écrins: the Bans, Ailefroide and the Dôme.
From her cocoon-like workshop in the heart of the village of Vallouise where she has taken up residence, Fanny has also designed earrings, long necklaces, bracelets and necklaces, in the colors of the territory. “Creation is the most interesting part of my job. Starting with a blank sheet of paper, a colour or a material and making something aesthetic and original out of it is fascinating,” says the young woman who began her career in upholstery and hotel decoration. Her online store is full of delicate little wonders.
Honey and Mountains
Hive Treasures
Originally from the Cévennes and Savoie, Guillaume Tastavin and Karine Vial set up their hives in the town of Les Vigneaux in 2018. Both driven by the same enthusiasm for beekeeping and the Pays des Écrins, they take full advantage of this place of life which allows them to combine professional and sporting activities.
It is therefore quite natural that the beekeeping couple created “Miel et Montagne” in 2020.
Since then, Guillaume and Karine have been transhumanting about 500 bee colonies as they bloom, so that their little protégés can forage in turn on dandelions and mountain flowers (Pays des Écrins), white heather and chestnut trees (Cévennes), acacias and firs (Ain and Jura) and lavender (Albion plateau). A myriad of flavors that can be found in the different varieties of honey produced each year.
“All the apiaries are set up in wild areas. Transhumance makes it possible to limit the vagaries of the weather while ensuring the production of honeys that are very different from each other. Being 100% connected with nature is our guideline,” they confess. Lavender honey nougat made by a nougat maker, mountain honey candies and honey jams are also available for sale.