We are just home from the BERNINA Meet Me In Paris trip. All I can say is that it was truly a fantastic trip. Full of wonderful things to see, taste, experience and learn. I will attempt to piece together some highlights over the next week or so, starting with my favorite purchase; a beautiful pair of stork scissors.
My Favorite Thing
These beautiful stork scissors were purchased on our trip to Paris, May 2026, from Rebecca Devaney, artist and owner of Samplers of Seduction.
Rebecca is a textile artist and worked as a professional haute couture embroiderer for Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Dior, Valentino, Givenchy, and Louis Vuitton. We met her as part of a specially curated trip to Paris with Bernina USA.
The inscription stamped on the scissors is a vintage, stylized French hallmark script. It reads Nogent (specifically, it appears to be a cursive stamp for L. Nogent a specific artisan from the region).
The history of this maker is incredibly prestigious.
Nogent-en-Bassigny is a small town in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France. Since the 18th century, it has been the historic epicenter of high-end, luxury French cutlery and scissor-making, rivaling Sheffield in England and Solingen in Germany.
1. The Traditional Guild System
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, scissor manufacturing in Nogent wasn’t done in giant automated factories. Instead, it relied on a network of highly specialized, family-run “small houses” or independent master artisans (maîtres couteliers). One small workshop would hand-forge the steel, another would perform the intricate decorative hand-chasing (sculpting the stork feathers), and another would specialize in the gold plating and precision alignment of the blades.
2. The Signature Features
True vintage Nogent stork scissors are highly prized by collectors today for exact details visible in the photos:
- The Two-Tone Metallurgy: The blades are left as high-carbon polished steel because it holds a razor-sharp edge longer, while the handles are richly gold-plated.
- Hand-Chased Details: The feather textures, the eye of the stork, and the alignment are finished by hand, meaning no two pairs from these old houses are completely identical.
- The “Nogent” Stamp: The oval stamp on the shank was a mark of origin and a guarantee of supreme quality, showing it came from one of the elite workshops of the region.
Why They Went out of Business
Tragically, almost all of the traditional, small artisan houses in Nogent have gone out of business over the last several decades.
As mass-produced, machine-stamped scissors flooded the global market from the late 20th century onward, the incredibly labor-intensive methods of the Nogent craftsmen became economically unsustainable. Forging, grinding, and hand-adjusting a single pair of scissors could take hours of meticulous work by a master smith. One by one, these historic family workshops closed their doors as the older generation of artisans retired without successors.
These stork scissors are a beautiful piece of deadstock French craftsmanship. Because that small house is gone, these can no longer be replicated using those traditional methods. It is our good fortune that Rebecca would curate and sell them–they are as much a piece of French design history as they are a functional tool. An heirloom to be enjoyed for generations.
Day 1: The Secrets of Paris Revealed
Tissus Market
Le Sentier was traditionally the centre of cloth merchants in Paris, at Rue de Mulhouse, Rue de Clery and Rue de Jeuneurs a small concentration of them remain. A good place to start is Tissus Market, one of the best kept secrets in Paris!
There are two stores here, specialising in remnant Haute Couture fabrics. The first is dedicated to silks, cashmere and printed fabrics. The second has all other fabrics, bolts of pleated organzas still in their crepe paper, bouclé knits, disco lamé, velvets, cottons, linens and then at the very back, a pile of the softest leathers.
Au Ver à Soie
The highlight of the tour is the exclusive visit to Au Ver à Soie, a family run business that has manufactured the finest silk threads for 200 years. The showroom is normally open to industry professionals only; Hermes, Chanel, Dior, Yves Saint Laurent.
Rebecca will bring guests to enjoy a behind-the-scenes visit to discover the history of silk from the experts! The floor to ceiling shelves are lined with carefully labelled boxes filled with lustrous silk threads in hundreds of colours. Nathalie, the 5th generation of the Au Ver à Soie family will greet guests and after a fascinating presentation in English, we will have the exclusive opportunity to purchase silk threads for machine sewing and embroidery directly from the source!
There are two stores here, specialising in remnant Haute Couture fabrics. The first is
dedicated to silks, cashmere and printed fabrics. The second has all other fabrics, bolts of
pleated organzas still in their crepe paper, bouclé knits, disco lamé, velvets, cottons, linens
and then at the very back, a pile of the softest leathers.
General Diff
If you don’t find what you’re looking for in Tissus Market then it must be in General Diff! A family-run business, from father to daughter, with 40 years’ experience, they are renowned for their excellent customer service. A team of haute couture enthusiasts are on hand to advise and guide clients through projects and purchases.
Their showroom has an impressive three floors with fabrics sourced from the finest French and Italian textile mills. Silk, Lace, Wool, Cotton, and Linen, it’s the secret supply of many a discerning Parisian couturière!
Fried Freres
The hidden jewel of Paris, Fried Freres has added sparkling details to extravagant couture gowns since the 19th century. A dizzying selection of beads, sequins and rhinestones, they have recently opened their doors to retail. Clients can enjoy a moment of true treasure hunting, drawers filled with pompoms of glistening seed beads, bags of sunshine sequins and sachets of twinkling rhinestones.
Textile Tours of Paris, 2nd Arrondissement, Paris, France
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