Mariam Nihal
Saudi Gazette
Franck Tressens, founder and head designer of Ephtee, the luxury trunk making brand. Tressens is a French craftsman, passionate about manufacturing unique pieces.
“I started my workshop 20 years ago and with my team we are still manufacturing trunks that we sell around the globe.
I like nature and to walk in big cities, awaken my curiosity and imagination. Nature has always been my inspiration.
Everything is there, we just have to open our eyes,” Tressens told Saudi Gazette. To him ‘design’ is giving style to an object. “Today I feel like there has always been that intuition that led me to leave everything and dedicate my life to what I love to do, my passion: drawing ideas or dreams and then making them real.”
Emphtee started off with Tressen’s love for shoes. “In fact I have always been passionate about shoes. About 20 years ago, I needed a box to store my shoe wax and shining materials but could not find one the market.
So I decided to create it. After that, I needed to store my shoe collection and thought of a trunk for that purpose.
It all started from there. And one day, my daughter told me ‘I am sure that many people would love to have a box and a trunk like yours’.
It made me think, so one day I decided to leave everything and start manufacturing boxes and trunks in my own garage. My first client was Façonnable.”
He said production takes a few weeks to three months. “It always starts with a simple conversation with the client to know what he wants, his use, his taste.
We try to give him advice, but never try to influence him. After that, we show him an illustration.
By the way, we never use 3D computerized drawings; we always draw by hand, it is very important to ‘feel’ the idea. Then we start manufacturing.
I believe in having a heart-to-heart with clients because I believe my work has an artistic relationship with an idea, need and an object.”
Tressens has also won the French Ministry of crafts award “Malletier d’Art” (master in trunk making) and “Entreprise de patrimoine vivant” (crafts workshop of living tradition).
“One of the best rewards for workshops that perpetuate a unique know-how,” Tressens said.
He has been working as a designer for almost 25 years now. “I started drawing special items while working and dreaming of manufacturing them one day.
And one day, I felt it was the time to let everything go and follow my dream. I tell everyone the same thing. Do not fear following your dreams.
If you believe in it, go for it until the end, it cannot fail.” Ephtee manufactures bespoke and unique pieces; ensuring that all items are part of limited editions.
“We also have small items like watch purses, watch boxes and jewelry boxes. Our newest item is a big shoe shining trunk for the Charles de Gaulle Airport, we are also reinventing a boutique in the Paris Palais des Congrès with all furniture in leather, trunks and boxes, while working on a project of designing picnic boxes for a very big hotel in the Middle East.”
Tressens believes personalization and nostalgia will dominate luxury trends in 2015.
“Clients are becoming more aware of the real value of an item. They are asking for personal and emotional pieces that they can use in everyday life.
I think that we all want to remember the past, when we used to travel on horses, camels, and carriages with trunks and boxes containing our lives. It was a peaceful, simple life.”
Speaking about brand image and trademark, he said, emotion and authentic human values mark the true value of Ephtee. “Without emotion, you will have an industrial item with no soul.
And without values, you will be left with a commercial piece. When we manufacture any item in our workshop, we put all our passion, experience as if we are making it for the first time and for a very close friend.
We want our clients to feel that we spent time and effort on giving them the best. There is always a small detail in our work that shows this emotion. And you know that excellence is always in the smallest details.”
Website http://www.ephtee.com/1.aspx
