Until December 24, Midi Libre invites you to discover the work of artisans from Frontignan and, why not, some Christmas gift trails.
Seeing her so narrow stall in the shopping arcade of the shopping center, one is a thousand leagues to think that Lapeyradoise Julie Diaz trades with the whole of Europe. The young thirty-something is even the first in France and in Europe to have created and marketed straps for horses in mohair wool.
A strap that does not damage the skin
“It’s a specificity of western riding that I adapted to classic riding”, explains the young thirty-something. “These mohair wool straps do not damage the skin of horses. I sell a lot more to classic riders than to others,” she explains, between changing the batteries for a watch, recovering boots to resole, creating a belt and duplicating keys.
The CAP as a free candidate
Because if this last string to her bow is the most profitable, the first passion of the young woman is horse riding and by extension, when she has not been able to practice it assiduously because of injury and finances, the work of the leather. “It was my grandmother who read in” Midi Libre “that the western saddler Yves Lesire had settled in Villeveyrac. I knocked on his door. He trained me. And in 2011, I passed and passed the CAP as a free candidate “.
Resumption of trade
And when you’re able to build a saddle from start to finish, shoemaking is a snap. She was therefore able to take over the shop in the shopping center when the former owner, with whom she was an intern, offered it to her.
Lots of word of mouth
For all that is riding, mohair wool comes from the United States as do the saddlery utensils “which are in stainless steel whereas in France it is rather nickel or brass”. Leather comes from Nîmes or Paris. Julie Diaz then works a lot to order. To create its famous straps, to make a belt, bags, repair a motorcycle saddle, or even redo the necessarily leather cover of a Harley.
“Whether it’s for motorcycles or even straps, a lot of things are communicated by word of mouth. That’s why people contact me, usually on my website (1) from all over Europe for my straps “, slips the young girl in activity for ten years already.
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