The figures were staggering: up to 500 employees divided between the workshops in rue de Montmoreau and the offices in rue de Périgueux (today occupied by customs); a turnover of 185 million euros in 1983, when the management of the twin brothers Paul and François Flamand constantly opened up new markets… Until the receivership, pronounced exactly 30 years ago, in February 1993, which marked the end of an industrial epic.
“There are buyers but a lot of crocodiles”
The fall was equal to the ascent: vertiginous, brutal and noisy. It threw hundreds of employees – turner, draftsman, foundry worker, setter… – in front of the gates of the prefecture, in the office of deputy-mayor Georges Chavanes or on the steps of the commercial court. On reprieve, they came to the court to inquire each week about a possible recovery. Claude Prineau was: “We were told: “There are buyers but a lot of crocodiles”. Two clans then formed: those who wanted to accept anything, at any price. And the latter who knew the value of things”he slips.
We didn’t have time to say phew!
How did Flamand come to this, with a debt of 371 million francs and not enough raw materials – gold, precious stones – to ensure the orders? “Variations in the price of gold, the economic crisis, relocations and international competition”list Philippe Bouasse, the director of the manufacture of the Angoumoisine Jewelery Company (SBA). A company created in 1993, on the ashes of Flamand, by five former executives. They took over equipment and part of the workshops in rue de Montmoreau, as well as about twenty colleagues. Philippe Bouasse did not know the Flemish period, but he was passionate about this heritage and compiled an impressive number of documents, including articles from Free Charente.
Israelis fly away with a nice nest egg
The last months of Flamand reflect a general confusion, illustrated by an incredible episode, which occurred several months before the receivership. He seems to have finished finishing off the company: in November 1992, representatives of the Israel Diamond Center company burst into the Angoumois offices. “They took control, played bosses instead of bosses and left again without warning, taking – if we are to believe the employees – some collections and various guarantees for an amount of 28 million francs”wrote our colleague Patrick Servant, in our edition of February 25, 1993.
“They left with what we called the marmots of the representatives, collections from A to Zconfirms Martine Dereix, designer from 1981 to 1993. It triggered a lot of things… She describes a beautiful mess and an atmosphere “tense”, not conducive to compromise: the takeover proposal by Nadia Barry, daughter-in-law of Paul Barry who had succeeded Georges Chavanes at the head of Leroy Somer, was thus rejected by the unions. It involved the elimination of 150 jobs out of the remaining 370.
Claude Mathés was also surprised. “ We didn’t have time to say phew! » But she prefers to remember this kaleidoscope of colors, all these precious stones that slipped through her expert fingers every day. “We received them from Paris, Lyon and Switzerland. I was in charge of sorting them according to their purity: pure ones, small white toads, and small black toads. I brewed some in 23 yearsshe amuses herself by manipulating her magnifying glass and her tweezers (a kind of tweezers) with as much ease as ever. It was magic… We were in no hurry to poach at night! »
This remarkable industrial heritage could soon be the subject of a major exhibition, why not at the Paper Museum: the mayor of Angoulême Xavier Bonnefont has met Philippe Bouasse in recent weeks and visited the premises of the SBA. “A working meeting is scheduled very soon with our cultural services”he slips.
In dates
1848. Alexandre Flamand works as a goldsmith in Aigre. He is the founder of the dynasty. His son Henri made the family business prosper, which reached around thirty people in 1914.
1930. Henri and his children move the company to Angoulême. Flamand gradually took on a national dimension, until it renamed itself Flamand Pfertzel International in 1954.
1972. Jean Flamand and his twin sons Paul and François organize a sumptuous reception at the Ritz in Paris.
1988. Flamand launches the New Jewelers network, which will exceed 250 points of sale.
February 1993. The company is placed in receivership by the commercial court of Angoulême. It has a debt of 371 million francs. No solution was found, neither by the Japanese Hirako (who then held shares), nor by the deputy-mayor Georges Chavanes… Flamand was finally liquidated by the courts during the summer, with the dismissal of its 370 employees.
Fin 1993. The Société Angoumoisine de Bijouterie (SBA) was created to preserve Flamand’s know-how, by five former executives, who bought some of the equipment.
