Mrs. Stival’s covering workshop
Just a few dates ...
1920: Her parents (Claude & Claudia Stival) got married and set up at 3, rue Duviard. They were from Lucenay (next to Villefranche-sur-Saône in the Rhone department), and they decided to settle in the Croix Rousse to be closer to the suppliers, who provided them with work. There were numerous covering workshops at this time.
1921: Birth of their daughter Claude. A few years later her parents had a second baby, a boy. Their son decided to become a jeweller, while Mrs. Stival run the covering workshop with her parents.
1930: the whole family moved out to settle at 9, rue Richan: they rent the place but owned old wooden machines, like most of the weavers of the time did. The setting of the workshop as well is special: it was a family workshop, with a separated kitchen to protect the precious metallic threads, and a mezzanine.
1933: Mr. Stival joined the « Centre National des Métiers » and developed the activity, which enabled him to buy the workshop and renew all of the equipment.
1934: His daughter Claude (who originally wanted to be a nurse) started her training in the workshop… She stayed there until her retirement 50 years later.
1941: Claude Stival got married, and continued to work with her parents at 22, rue Richan. She gave birth to a son in 1942. Her son later became a bread baker like his father. Her mother's job was already scarse at this time.
1973: Like many other craftspeople of the time, Mrs. Stival decided to join the Cooptiss (a group of craftspeople). She regretted this decision, because this group went bankrupt soon after.
1982: Her parents died, but she decided to continue the activity alone. She worked alone until 1988.
1990: Mrs. Stival did not want to abandon her old tools, so she decided to preserve them by joining « Soierie Vivante ». This enabled her to receive the public and explain her old job to visitors with great pleasure.
The tools for covering threads :
Covering a thread is a stage, when a thread of cotton or silk, will be coated with a metallic thread. This metallic thread has to be pressed before. One can create effects by varying the tension of the threads, or the way they are covered.
In Mrs. Stival’s workshop, there are:
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two grindstones, to flaten the metallic threads
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two spinning wheels, to wind the threads together. These spinning wheels are very impressive because of their lenght (2 meters).
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One "détrancaneuse " to deliver the finished product
All these tools are electric, and still work today !
The hazards of the coverer’s life in the 20th century
It was not easy to be a coverer… They were dependent on the suppliers, who counted each gram of thread that was created. They also counted each gram of thread that was not used.
Take for example, a delivery of February 1920, where 301 grams of metallic thread were paid 1478 Francs… Yet it represented 3 month of work.
The orders as well were not always regular: Mr. Stival had to look for odd jobs back in the 30s!
The suppliers were numerous: Mérieux et Cie, Carlhian (still existing today), Durel (known today as Rouge et Cie); Mathieu.
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