The emblematic building of the Coutellerie Nontronnaise has become one of the symbol of Nontron and of the “Périgord Vert”. Flashback on his construction.
In 2000, the Nontron town Council sponsored the construction of a new building to Luc Arsène-Henry Jr & Alain Triaud Architectes in Bordeaux. Designed to house the “new” Coutellerie Nontronnaise, this building will have to respect a number of criteria including a perfect integration with the landscape and taking into account the comfort and safety of cuttlers working on the site, with for example a ventilation system thought to eliminate as much dust as possible during the shaping of the wooden handles.
2002, the building is built! In the heart of the “Jardin des Arts” in Nontron, hung on one of the upper terraces, it unveils its 700 m² in a rectangular structure made of wood and aluminum and tinted with bistre, shingles, facades with large windows for letting the light enter in the longitudinal workshop.
Boxwood: from the workshop to the knife
The pillars and sheaths were covered with boxwood, wood typical of the Green Perigord , this wood is also patiently shapped and sculpted on the handles of Nontron knives. The signature of the cutlery with its three stellar points surmounting the celestial vault that reveals itself in the heart of a Perigord greenery is bordering the facade.
In just a few years, Nontron workshop was able to impose itself with elegance as one of the points of passage of tourists fan of the know-how of the cutlery and also of the beautiful building that came to visit the workshop. Proof that the heritage can also combine its values of excellence with modernity that is both radical and rooted in the territory.
Coutellerie Nontronnaise, Place Paul Bert, 24300 Nontron – Phone: +335 53 56 01 55. Free tour during opening hours.