Vent d Aubrac
Vent d Aubrac
VENT D'AUBRAC, the wind of AubracIn 1120, the nobleman Adalard Eyne was first attacked by bandits on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, known as the final stop on the Way of St. James, and then almost buried under a snowstorm.
The noble servant of the Count of Flanders interpreted his survival of these afflictions “in a place of terror and loneliness”, where there were wild boars, robbers and pilgrims, but nothing else, as a sign from God.
Out of gratitude, he founded a hospice with a church on this site, which was run according to the rules of St. Augustine after his death.
The small village of Aubrac surrounds this monastery complex.
The monks of the monastery devoted themselves to the breeding of robust cattle, which only give milk when their offspring are allowed to be with them, as they did then, as well as to cheese production. Burons, the small stone houses with slate roofs, housed the buronniers, who looked after the herds, cheese production and the preservation of the landscape.
This is what farm work looked like in the 12th century. Nature, fresh air, healthy food, cattle with principles.
Only a few tools could be accommodated. A knife became a constant companion when traveling, working and praying. The blade was stuck into the bread and everyone paused around it devoutly. “Hungry” growled the stomachs. Today, the typical knives are still marked with a cross of the Lord.
The gentlemen from VENT D'AUBRAC call it “the cross of the Buronnier”.
May I introduce you to the Messieurs in detail?
Michel FRAYSSOU, blacksmith by profession and vocation and founder of VENT D'AUBRAC. For 30 years, he has followed his motto: Passion is happiness.
He perfected his skills at FORGE DE LAGUIOLE. In 2007, Jean-Jacques Astier taught him how to make damask the old-fashioned way, using only a hammer and an anvil.
Even before Frayssou founded VENT D `AUBRAC in 2008. On the Place de la Patte d'Oie in Laguiole, he presented his inventions and his blacksmithing skills. Small etudes, finger exercises are practiced with steel from rake teeth and chains from saws of the same name.
Today, Filius Guillaume, after Raymon Rosa, an art knifemaker, took him under his wing,
together with his father in his own blacksmith's workshop. The production of “Damas Explosion” in particular is a matter close to his heart.
Each Damascus blade consists of three different steels. There's no mistaking it.
In 2015, there was a decisive change when two of the “best craftsmen in France” joined the team.
The noble title of craftsman went to Jean-Michel CAYRON, Meilleur Ouvrier de France in 2007, as well as in 2011 and Jérôme LAMIC, awarded the same title in 2015 as the youngest member of the Council of Elders. Both cutlery makers.
They were joined by Cyrille MANELPHE, who was also recently crowned “Best Craftsman” of the Grande Nation in the hunting knife segment in 2015.
An award that should have gone to him a few years earlier. He was already holding it in his hands, thought he had reached his goal, braided the laurel wreath, placed it almost on the crown of his head, pling! it went, as a feather broke in the supposed masterpiece presented and his heart broke in the same way.
Fall down, get up, straighten your crown, said Cyrille to himself. Then it will work with the award, he was right. MOF, Meilleur Ouvrier de France, is also written on his work uniform, which looks like a chef's shirt. With the tricolor in blue, white and red on the collar.
Since 2017, he has also been part of VENT D'AUBRAC, no longer a place of terror and loneliness. Only the wind up there on the high plateau, oh lala, just VENT D'AUBRAC.