The arts and crafts market is open in Avallon for Merry Christmas and Party Fathers
The Ateliers d’Art et de Création en Pays avallonnais (AACPA) association inaugurated this Friday, December 9, 2022, the traditional Christmas Mothers and Party Fathers market. This year the meeting is centered in Grenier à sel d’Avallon, with many locations scattered around town “so as not to lose the community”.
“As creators, we also have the ability to adapt”
Ceramists, sculptors, wood, metal, textile, glass, photographers and jewelers have gathered there this weekend and will meet there the next day to present and sell their works, and not only: “It is also designed to meet the masters. , understand their know-how and share a coffee, tea. The goal is to make it as fun as possible”, – notes Bénédicte Dietz, ceramist and treasurer of the association.
The desire to reconnect with the public, with colleagues, and the pleasant atmosphere during the holidays is so important that the craft professions have not escaped the health crisis, and now the impact of inflation and rising energy prices: “My electricity package gives me less money for it on certain days allows me to pay. I start my ovens then, because I cannot ignore this information – to skin my pieces,” expresses Benédicte Dietz. a fundamental restructuring of its activities. And to continue: “These changes are quite brutal for our profession. But as creators, we also have the ability to adapt.”
If I pass on my salary, I don’t sell anything anymore
Emilie Dulieu, the secretary of the association and also a ceramist, can only observe these rising energy prices, as well as the raw materials for her creations: “The materials for the production of ceramic enamel and even clay have increased. I have also run out of stock. The kaolin I discovered in the passage came from Ukraine.” with the problem of the impossibility of transferring it to sales prices: “For example, I sell glasses for 16 euros, which is over budget. If I pass on the increases I have, I won’t sell anything anymore. .”
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Franck Mercky, who exhibits metal sculptures, also suffered from the context of inflation: “I do a lot of works around steel, which took a terrible hit. 100% increase with Covid and the war in Ukraine.”
13 new exhibitors next weekend
However, the object manipulation tracker (opposite photo) has never worked as well as it has recently. “My clients still have money. I am very surprised. I am full of orders until March and April.” A situation that the fifty-year-old, based in Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye, has tried to rationalize in recent years by contacting the installation of potential Parisian clients in and around Yonne.
For this new edition of the Merry Christmas and Party Father market, Grenier à sel has a total of ten local fairs. Then the following weekend the panel will be completely refreshed with thirteen new traders. It’s enough to give you a good reason to come and look again, and why not dig into original and handmade gift ideas to put under the tree.
Experiment. Grenier à sel, historic district of Avallon, 8bis rue Bocquillot. Saturday, December 10 and Sunday, December 11 from 10:00 to 19:00, Friday, December 16 from 15:00 to 19:00, Saturday, December 17 and 18, Sunday from 10:00 from to 19:00. A raffle to win an exhibition worth €200 (entry €2).
Maureen Balcaen
