And if I were you, I would come and get it in person at Loud + Clear salon, at Centre de Design de l’UQAM this weekend! (1440 Sanguinet, Montréal | Saturday May 25th 11am-6pm | Sunday May 26th 12pm-5pm)

Well guys, we never told you but… Objets Mécaniques has a new work place!  Indeed, 2 months ago, we escaped Ariane M.L.’s gloomy basement for a much better inspiring environment. It is amazing: full of natural light, super high ceiling, right next to our houses, in the charming Rosemont area…etc. etc. Since then, we got super busy getting ready for the One of a Kind show in Toronto (where we won for best booth design! yeah!) and so, we never had the time to organize our new space. But it is coming! And we will keep you updated!

Also on our “to do list” : some custom orders (a custom board, pieces of furniture for a bathroom and stacking tables for a living room), a new collection (it’s coming!), the Loud + Clear market… etc. etc.

So! A small series of the nightstands will be produced soon! For more info regarding prices, dimensions… click here !  Order before May 30th; production starts in June. Delivery in July!

Yes it’s coming! And good news : we just finished a little production of our summery objects. Hence, our cedar planters are now back in an improved version. They are available in 2 sizes (small and large) and 3 colors (green, blue and white). Note that for planters, SHIPPING across Canada IS INCLUDED ! To order a large one, it’s here, for a small one it’s there!

Some swings made of torrefied wood are also ready to rock your backyard! Find them here ! And, as always, our objects are made in very small quantities, so don’t wait: they are usually leaving the shop very quickly!

Recently, Cosette Communication, the well-known advertising agency from Québec, contacted us to see if Objets Mécaniques wanted to collaborate on the next ”Fromages d’ici” contest. Obviously, we accepted right away : to work with an advertisement firm from Québec for the promotion of local (and delicious!) goods while having the chance to show our work throughout the province – do we want to be a part of that…? Yes. For sure. So we happily made three 1.4 cutting boards, all of which will be given to three winners this month.

For more details regarding this contest and to participate, visit the Fromages d’ici website. Good luck!

Photo: Ghislain Martineau

Here they are, at last, the bedside tables that should rest on each side of Julie’s bed!

We are planning to build a few of them very soon.

Please, write to us for more details!

That’s official! Julie’s bed will soon have little brothers, handcrafted with care by our cabinetmaker friend Dominique Côté. Therefore, we plan that a few more walnut beds (both queen and kind sizes and similar to this one) will be ready to be adopted by the end of winter.

The curious among you can of course write to us for more informations about the bed.

Note that we will take orders until February 15, so we can proceed with the work very soon!

A lot of post-its have now been stuck all over my new Moleskine planner.
While the same Patrick Watson eight tracks travel each day through the ceiling from our shop, two little bedside tables are taking life on the workbench. Beside, wood panels are piling up again the concrete walls. New projects are constantly popping up and our overexcited minds are having a hard time following the action.

Between Saturday morning’s weaving lessons, coffees taken on the fly from Tim Horton’s drive-thru, dreams of moving in a bright new workspace, Ariane O.P.’s readings for her PHD and the kicks of a new life sharing my body, the wild pace of days is pulling us quite vigorously towards Spring, the (huge) One of Kind Show, the assembling of a crib and serious academic presentations.

This is all crazy, but so exhilarating at the same time.
So we put back the kettle on the stove, telling ourselves that everything is ok.

Ariane M-L

Order before December 14th and receive your package before Christmas. Quick! Our quantities are limited!

To those of you who gave us their email address in order to receive our newsletter and in hope of winning a one of a kind cutting board : now is the time to announce the winner. Congratulations to Santhya , this unique little cutting board is now ready to move to your kitchen!

To subscribe to our monthly newsletter, simply click on “mailing list” in the menu on the right side.

We will be at Souk@Sat from November 30th to December 2nd. It will be a nice opportunity to meet with us and other amazing creators from Montréal. The perfect occasion to start your Christmas shopping and find original gifts made locally! Since then, at Objets Mécaniques, we are working hard in the wood-shop to produce as many cutting boards and little houses as we can!

We just got back from Brooklyn, and what an amazing weekend it was! First, the Renegade Craft Fair did not fail to impress us : perfect setting in the East River State Park with the best view of Manhattan, great atmosphere due to hundreds of nice people and many many incredible food trucks and, of course, many new clients for Objets Mécaniques. But also, due to our passage to Williamsburg and a nice encounter, Objets Mécaniques is for now on, distributed at TASK (tasknewyork.com, see picture above)! Therefore, our cutting board 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5 can now be seen and bought in the streets of Brooklyn!

We are back!!!!!!!!!!! After a long time without posting anything on the blog we are happy to be back on the web, especially since we have so many great news to tell you guys! Moreover, as Halloween is now behind us, we are allowed to talk about Christmas! Yes!

I must say that the last few weeks have been crazy for me : I guess I was wrong thinking that starting a business AND a PhD at the same time wouldn’t be so hard. Well, yeah… I guess I will never learn that there actually are just 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week. BUT I am the luckiest girl in the business world : as I have been concentrating on university stuff for a while, my GENIUS business partner seems to have planned the (near) future of Objets Mécaniques quite amazingly! Therefore, thanks to Ariane (M.L), as for now and until Christmas, we are fully booked with great events!

One that we are particularly ecstatic about is certainly the Renegade Christmas Fair in Brooklyn. For one, it will be our first time showing in the US and we can’t wait to meet with fellow artisans from across the border. But also, the Renegade represents for us something really special as it has always been what we would be picturing when dreaming of starting our own little business. It is crazy to think that a little part of our big dream wasn’t so far after all! Plus, going to Brooklyn equals road trip equals fun. What more can we ask for?

We will keep you updated on the other fairs we will be attending very soon. But for now, visit the Renegade website for more info : http://www.renegadecraft.com/brooklyn-holiday-info

-Ariane O-P.

Youhou!! The great bed (made with a lot of walnut and love) is finally READY and will soon leave us for its real home… Next step: the bedside tables!

Ariane M.L.

What an intense week-end it was at Puces Pop!! Thanks to all of you who stopped at our table! Your suggestions and commentaries are well registered in our heads! Back in our shop, we are now putting the finishing touches to this huge bed that should be ready very soon! To be continued…

- Ariane M.L.

Ouf! Final touch up for Puces Pop Fair tomorrow!

Oh! And we just want to let you know that we will have a new way of selling our little houses  : they will be sold by weight! Hence, it is the perfect opportunity to come and see us at our table and have a chat while building your own village! But don’t wait to long! They might disappear very quickly!

For a second time, Objets Mécaniques will be at Puces Pop Fair! Come to meet with us and many other artisans with tons of beautiful things to show you. For more information about the event : http://popmontreal.com/segment/puces-pop/. Hoping to see you there!

I know a summer camp wood shop that bears the melted scents of gas, wet forest and dust. Its doors are large and let all the cold light come in at once, on the thousand little things spread on every surface. All those little things seem to be what keep the cabin standing among the trees, humble and proud at the same time. A cabin filled with the music of the machines, Mauricie’s radio station and the cawing of the crows.

I have been loving this shop for a long time. I wish it were my grandfather’s. He would have told me a story about the bear trap hanging at the ceiling, and perhaps, he would have shown me how to use his tools. Anyway, this time, I had my cellphone. The photos didn’t quite capture the richness of the space but they may give a glimpse of the perfect mess that gives workshops a soul.

- Ariane M.L.

As you may know, in the last weeks, we’ve been spending most of our time trying to get our website settled. But we have also been working on something rather exciting : we are building a bed out of black walnut for a client and it’s looking pretty good at the moment! It is always a thrill to see one of our design come to life as we build it. I guess that excitement is actually what makes us so much in love with our job ; the fact that our job as designers doesn’t end on the drawing table, but continues throughout the building process up to the delivery to the client. Therefore, meeting clients that are open-minded and who understand well what we can offer is probably for us the best gift of all.

On top of that, as this project made us learn new woodworking skills, which is always a plus, it also allowed us to add some new tools to the family (and THAT feels like Christmas). So we are proudly welcoming to our shop a new Makita circular saw and a new biscuit jointers! Woohoo!

- Ariane O.P

But I finally glimpsed the secret party, I heard the tiny minuets, I overheard the complicated intrigues happening in the cabinet.

 - Charles Cros

Oh! Precious little Lilo! As a child, this is certainly the toy that captivated me the most. Yes, because it is adorable, but mostly because it could move. Of course, it wasn’t the only toy that could move – my little sister had a RC car which, i guess, was certainly more impressive. But Lilo had something special. By turning the little key on his chest, we could hear the discrete mechanism inside of him. Sometimes, my sisters and I would inadvertently drop the poor bird and he would end up on the floor, his tiny metallic organs surrounding him. It was an horrible scene. We had to quickly start emergency procedures which would bring him back to life.

Eventually we had to stop playing. We placed him back in the cupboard (little Lilo had a special place just for him in the cabinet) and closed the door. And then, a few minutes later, when we had forgotten about him, he had a little jump which could be heard even behind the closed door. He still wanted to play. Mechanical toys have this poetic effect : they are, somehow, alive.

Indeed, this is what inspires Objets Mécaniques – we are interested in the life that lies within each of everyday objects. We see in these objects, from the most banal to the most original, an inspiring wealth that goes beyond their obvious utilitarian virtues. These household items are a witness of social and cultural habits and despite their apparent mutism, they are full of life. If you listen carefully, you will hear them whisper, quietly …

So, what is mechanical about our objects? For those born with an unshakable rationality, absolutely nothing. For those who dream, those who kept their child’s heart, everything.

- Ariane O. P.

That’s it. Our very first post! My God, we are so thrilled!

We couldn’t wait to see this site coming true! Because this little space on the web may be new but the whole Objets Mécaniques thing has been in our hearts for a very long time…

Oh, architecture school feels so far away! It seems like ages since we spent long nights in school, our hands glued on tiny balsa models, getting way too anxious over a simple elevation. That time is already blurring and yet, that’s when everything began. Indeed, at that moment, we both knew we loved architecture but felt something else was waiting for us. And we knew we would have to create that other thing we couldn’t still quite define.

Last spring, we thought it was time to do something about it. And we are still working on it, trying to put our little business into the world… Our heads are filled with crazy ideas, we have that great love for wood and wood machine, and (best of all) we have the same name. Yeah.

Thanks for following us and come back often!

 - Ariane & Ariane