Guip Shipyard’s expertise on display at Les Gobelins, Paris
For the first time in its long history, the prestigious Parisian exhibition centre Les Gobelins turns its attention to the craftsmanship of France’s regions. The exhibition Métiers d’art, signatures des territoires runs 29 March–21 April 2019. On display there was innovative pieces and a selection of regional craftsmanship from a range of sources, including young artisans, established masters, schools and renowned workshops and studios. Guip has presented a boat designed and built by the Breton shipyard.
A boat among forty exceptional pieces
The exhibition, part of the Journées Européennes des Métiers d’Art 2019 nationwide festival of arts and crafts, has taken the visitor on a tour of thirteen regions of France and their iconic manufacturing traditions (Le Puy and Calais lace, Lyons silk, Franche-Comté clocks and watches, Loire stained glass, Longwy enamel, Sèvres pottery, Limoges porcelain, Aubusson tapestry and more). At each stage of the tour the exhibition focused on innovation and the new customs and techniques employed by these outstanding practitioners of arts and crafts.
An elegant mahogany rowing and sailing boat
Guip Shipyard has presented Izenah, an elegant rowing and sailing boat. Clinker built, she is mahogany planked on locust frames. Guip boss Yann Mauffret intended her name as a respectful nod to the early days of the shipyard, founded 1976, in a little creek called Guip on the Morbihan island of Île aux Moines. Izenah is, after all, a contraction of the words eniz venah, the Breton name for Île aux Moines.
She’s 4.62 m long, has a 1.65 m beam, and her rudder and centreboard can be raised. Izenah’s generous volume makes her a comfortable, safe boat and with her simple catboat rig (single lugsail), she’s easy to handle too.
A double award winner
Guip’s yards on the island of Île aux Moines and in the cities of Brest and Lorient have established a solid reputation for building and restoring wooden boats. To date the company has received two awards from the prestigious British magazine Classic Boat, a reference in the yachting world. Guip has also been awarded the label Living Heritage Company (entreprise du patrimoine vivant – EPV), a French scheme to highlight rare, renowned or ancestral expertise in arts, crafts and industry.