STARS & MÉTIERS 2021 NATIONAL PRIZE: THE MORTA LEAVES THE WOODS FOR ATELIER JHP
Good news! After 5,000 years spent buried in the peat of Brière, the Morta has finally left the woods. Like a great lord, it chose the workshop’s 10 year anniversary to show itself in broad daylight. And as it always does things on a large scale, it directly propelled me into becoming Artisan of the Year 2021.
I had the privilege of receiving the 2021 Stars & Métiers artisan prize at the Manufacture des Gobelins in Paris on 3 June 2021. Organized by the CMA networks (Chambres des Métiers et de l’Artisanat) and Banque Populaire, the 2020/2021 competition awards the excellence prize to passionate, innovative and agile artisans. Maintaining the know-how of yesteryear at a 21st century pace is what this distinction highlights. We were six prize-winners, chosen from among a shortlist of twenty companies, to represent this alchemy of expertise and dynamism combining tradition and modernity. We might even talk of know-how 2.0 ?
STARS & MÉTIERS 2021 NATIONAL PRIZE: THE MORTA LEAVES THE WOODS FOR ATELIER JHP
Fascinated since childhood by knives and how they were made, I took the plunge in 2011 by deciding to devote my life to them. I fully understood the cutlery market, so I left my profession at the time to found SARL Atelier JHP.
Why this Pythagoras quotation?
Because it’s by following our passion and assuming our people skills that we transform day-to-day work into enthusiasm. Knowing how to take this step aside and set out on our own path immediately gives us a very strong identity. We also owe this uniqueness to our material, the basis of our raison d’être, the Morta.
We work around this wood that has become our brand. This oak in the process of fossilization alone constitutes our DNA. After extracting it from its natural environment, by dint of sweat and assisted by a spade, we shape it in our workshop to bring it back to life, reincarnated as the handle of Morta Knives.
But I’m not the only one deserving this prize. It’s an entire team who is behind this achievement. Composed of five cutlers and Rio, our hunter of national lions, the team makes, designs and innovates every day to provide an authentic, noble product. We start from the wood, and what wood, Morta, to play at woodworkers, engineers, in short cutlers, but not just that!
AT ATELIER JHP, WE ARE ALSO COMMUNICATORS
Because yes, in 2021, presence on social media proves essential to go and meet people. So you can find us on LinkedIn, Facebook or directly on our website. Our online shop, which enables us to sell throughout France and abroad, presents our product lines and receives more web users each day. You will find there the folding, fixed, kitchen or table Morta Knives, as well as the Damascus blades and the different etchings we propose.
For those who can, don’t hesitate to come and visit our workshop in Saint-André-des-Eaux. Located right in the middle of the Brière nature reserve, you will discover an artisan profession as well as a dream between thatched roofs and customers, where economic dynamism and soothing holiday ambiance intermingle. Count on us to advise you of the best addresses to get to know Brière.
And as we are always focusing on what has yet to be accomplished, we do our best every day to honour our customers and Morta without ever being satisfied with the status quo, hoping in our way to arouse some vocations.
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