"H ôtel Royal of the Goblins". in consequence of an edict of Louis XIV. Monseigneur Colbert having restored and enriched with magnificence the palates of the king, in particular the Louvre and Tuileries, thought of creating a manufacture for pieces of furniture suitable with the splendour of these buildings: with this project in sight it called in all the kingdom and in the foreign nations the workmen able in various arts and art's work; in particular painters, weavers, sculptors, goldsmiths, ébonists, et cætera. To do the establishment envisaged firm and durable, it advised the king to buy the Goblins property, so that these artists can work there with their eases. It issued for their direction a system of laws, or policy, in seventeen articles. By the latter it is regulated, that new manufacture will be under the administration of a superintendant of the "arts and buildings of the king", that in said manufacture the ordinary Masters will be responsible for all the actions and processes brought by unspecified of the people, their servants and people in charge; that no other work of tapestry will be imported from any other country, et cætera. The Goblins since remained the first manufacture of this kind in the world. Quantity of finest and noblest art work which was produced by it, and numbers of the best talents which it arouses, is quite simply incredible; the current condition of blooming of decorative arts of France is, in a great thanks, debtor to it. The work of the tapestry, in particular, is its glory. During the superintendance of M. Colbert, and of its successor M. of Louvois, the realization of the tapestry is practised with a degree of perfection, seldom lower than what was made by the English and in other provinces of France. Battles of Alexandre, four seasons, four elements, palates of the king, and a series of the principal actions of the life of Louis XIV, from its first marriage to the first conquest of Franche county, conceived by M. Le Brun, director of the manufacture of the Goblins, are master pieces in their kind.
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On the Gobelins avenue, the building has been buid in 1912 by Formige after the fire of 1871. It is curently now refitted to accomodate a gallery of exhibition.

T HE NATIONAL MANUFACTURES OF THE GOBELINS, BEAUVAIS & THE SAVONNERIE
Hugues Menes speaker to the manufacture of the Gobelins

THE GOBELINS (GOBLINS)
It is in year 1443 that Jehan Gobelin open his workshop as dyer on the edges of the Bièvre in the Saint Marcel quater, along the pathway of Italy. Its speciality is the dyeing in scarlet obtained with the cochineal. Its descendants will be maintained there until 1601. The workshop is then resold to some Flemish weavers: Jean de la Planche and Marc de Comans who however will continue the activity of dyeing.
In 1662, Colbert and Louis XIV purchase the company and give it a considerable development; one estimates indeed at 250 the number of hand weavers. The example of M. Fouquet the superintendent of finances is determining, it is indeed him who inaugurates in Maincy a tapestry workshop runing for its personal use with a Flemish labour. Besides Louis XIV will keep to its manufacture the weavers of Fouquet even finishing for their new lord and master the tapestries of the superintendent. The king rebuilds the whole of the buildings which reach us today in a remarkable state of conservation in spite of work of Haussmann in 1859 which chips the frontage of the Goblins at the time of the boring of the avenue of the same name; the Commune revolution brings its batch of destruction but the buildings are saved of a general fire. In 1913, Formige the architect builds a gallery in frontage on the avenue of the Goblins to be used as museum. For a few years the State has considered finally the general restoration of the work premises, residences of the weavers and museum. Thus at the beginning of the year 2003, the workshop known as of North was re-opened to the public, presenting work of high wrap loom within the state of XVIlth century conceived by the king. Currently, the workshop counts thirty-five lissiers (hand weavers). The production of the three departments is in the whole reserved for the need of the state services or the diplomatic gifts.
Technique: the Goblins exclusively practise the hight wrap since 1826, the low wrap from now on being reserved for the Beauvais Manufacture. Standing up vertically, the hight wrap loom consists of two timbering called binoculars or coterets (the Castle) which maintains two beams (rollers), that one to the bottom collecting fabric and the other to the top accomodating the yarn reserve of wrap. The yarn of warp are separate in two tablecloths by sticks of crosswinding (also called sticks of interval). The lissier works on the back of his work, being him self facing, across the warp, the sun light. He controls the result acroos the wrap using a mirror. He must turn over to see back to him its paperboard (carton or model). Each yarn of warp of the back tablecloth (compared to the weaver) is provided with a heddle (cotton cord which makes the turn of it) and makes it possible to bring back to front this back tablecloth; the front tablecloth remains fixed. Provided with a pin (or shuttle) the lissier (hand weaver) introduces his weftthreads between yarn of warp then brings ahead the backtablecloth before carrying out the return of the weft. He thus will completely cover the wrap with the weft, what is the essential characteristic of a tapestry or fabric for purpose of weft aspect. Far from being a simple underling, the lissier is thus a real artist who interprets the paperboard (the carton) provided by the artist cartonnier.

BEAUVAIS
Founded in 1664 in the town of Beauvais, manufacture answers at this time to the private requests of kind of product same as those in the style of the king; it also competes, situated in the cutting road of Paris, with the Flemish imports. Very brilliant, the production specializes at the XVIIIth century in furnishing fabrics, smaller, as seat covering, and thus easier to sell out. Manufacture then uses mainly the low wrap, faster and allowing Tell me more precise weavings, while adopting the cotton warp which makes fabric Tell me more solid. With the day before the Revolution, manufacture is likely to disappear and becomes finally national (it had always been before a private company; with the difference of the Goblins whose production was reserved to the king, Beauvais sold its own to the private sector.) In 1826, Beauvais sends to the Goblins its last loom of high wrap and specializes definitively in low wrap. In 1940, manufacture is repatriated in Paris then to Aubusson during the nazis occupation. In 1945, the town of Beauvais is completely destroyed and the governament decides to install manufacture in the same premises of the Goblins. In 1968, the architect Le Blanchet builds near the Goblins the building known as "new manufactures" where Beauvais settles. Finally, in 1989, Beauvais turns over in its town of origin. Currently, twenty lissiers work in Paris and twenty in Beauvais.
Technique: The low wrap technique approaches close the high wrap one. In any case, the result is technically identical. The lissier has treadles (or pedals), connected by heddles to pair or odd yarns of wrap. One of the treadle makes it possible to open the warp in two tablecloths, the other to cross them. The weaver carries out his duites (length of thread) in a weft thread outward journeys and returns, by means of a flute (or shuttle) and brings back these duites the ones against the others by means of a scraper (metal leg provided with teeth). The lissier carefully packs then the duites using a comb (like one also does it in high wrap). The paperboard (carton) will be directly slipped here under the yarns of wrap after to have to be mirored reproduced on a fabric paper by means of a stencil. One always works on the back of the tapestry and one controls the place by means of an miror. The saving of time is sufficiently important so that the low wrap gradually supplanted the high wrap whose very great loom however make it possible to weave Tell me more monumental pieces.

LA SAVONNERIE
Manufacture is founded in 1627 per Louis XIII who installs it on the hill of Chaîllot in an old soap factory transformed by Marie de Médicis into orphanage. This labour shall be used by two lissiers of the name of Pierre Dupont and Simon Lourdet (Dupont accomplished a few years before a voyage in Turkey from where it brought back the technique of the tiedpoint, allowing to weave "velvety carpets in the fashion of the Orient"). Manufacture leaves Chaillot in 1826 to be installed in the Goblins premises where it recovers its own technic of low wrap. Finally in 1968 the workshop is moved in two flats in the building of the "new manufactures". Today 40 lissiers (hand weavers) work with in the Savonnerie.
Technique: The high wrap weaving loom is the same as the one used by Gobelins manufacture. But here the weaver (lissier) carries out a rib tied with his pin, i.e. that he passes alternatively with this thread behind a front warp wire, then behind a back warp wire. He thus forms a node on the back of its work, while keeping a loop on the face which will be mowed to obtain a velvet. The operation will be repeated over the entire length of the chain of the work, while progressing from left to right and always on a front warp wire then behind. It is not thus any Tell me more question here of "duites" (the short lenght of thread making the rib). The heddles are used to bring back temporarily one postponed wire of chain by one to the front. Then are inserted wire of flax between each line of loops and nodes thus carried out. This to ensure the solidity of the carpet, piece of ground per excellence. The lissier progressively mows then his work lines of loops carried out, then will disentangle the hairs thus obtained, horizontally. Finally after having disentangled the motives of the carpet the lissier will arrange his work with the point of his scissors (i.e. which he will rectify the hairs of his carpet by obtaining a perfect same looking like his paperboard -his carton-). The disentangling and arrangement operations were invented by the French carpets weaver and are thus not practised in the East.
Learning tapestry's work to "Manufactures Nationales des Gobelins" (in french)