French
Line
The French art
de vivre art of lie-has always evoked the spirit, the refinement
and the luxury that is present in French culture.  In
1864 the Transatlantic General Company, also called French Line,
embodied that unique art de vivre, transporting the elite
on its majestic ocean liners.
Theatres built like
palaces, refined tearooms, luxurious pools and sumptuous suites
where artists, celebrities, writers and members of high society
met and mingled. Joy, romance and pleasure were the only rules
aboard. Normandie, lle de France and France, among others, were
the worthy representatives of the French art of traveling.
Thanks to these magnificent
steamers, French artists and master craftsmen became famous aboard.
Among these famous designers, jewelers and craftsmen, Simon Tissot
Dupont emerged as an ambassador of the art de vivre.
In 1872 he established a leather goods workshop in Paris and manufactured
travel cases. His designs were quickly adopted by the international
elite. In the 1920's kings and queens politicians and artists
were eager to acquire these marvellous pieces and their matching
accessories. The production of such masterspieces involved no
less than 17 diffrent craftsmen, among them lacquerers, leatherworkers
and goldsmiths.
For this Limited
Edition, which pays tribute to those legendary liners, S.T. Dupont
took as a starting point the unique architecture of the ships.
The brushed-steel plates on the lighters, as well as the anthracite
metal bodies of the pens, evoke the impressive hulls. The rivets
and the grids are reminiscent of the banisters, rails and bridges
of the steamers. This Limited Edition is composed of two lighters
(a Line 2 and a Gatsby), three large Orpheo pens(fountain, rollerball
and ballpoint), and an ashtray and key ring. The lighters and
pens are sequentially numbered, from 1 to 1864, in reference to
the date of the founding of the French Line. The ashtray and key
ring are sequentially numbered, from 1 to 864.
|
