For a day, Patrick Defacq put aside his silverware to go discover the gold of the Republic. This goldsmith craftsman from the Oise was received in mid-February at the Ministry of Culture in Paris. The new tenant of the rue de Valois, Audrey Azoulay, was waiting for him there to give him the badge of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.
This prestigious award, the discreet fifty-something living in Senlis was not necessarily waiting for it. “He was quite comfortable in front of the minister, but a little less in front of the cameras of BFMTV”, carries his director, Eric Ortet. It must be said that the daily life of Patrick Defacq is far from the major places of the capital. His universe is the workshop of the Ercuis factory, a company with international notoriety (read below) which took the name of the small rural town in the south of the Oise, where it was established on the initiative of a visionary priest 150 years ago. Patrick Defacq joined in 1980, at the age of 16. “I didn’t work much at school. At one point, we had to enter an apprenticeship school, says this son of a pastry chef and pharmacy assistant. I predestined myself for general mechanics. I drew well. The goldsmith was looking for a young person to train. In contact with the elders, I learned to love this job. I will end my career here, I hope. “
After having long manufactured the dies used to stamp cutlery, he specialized in the making of pieces of fine goldsmithing. “The most complex and the most prestigious,” he says with pride. I like to start from nothing, to create and see the object take shape. I have a taste for beautiful things. “
Ercuis creations – count around fifty euros for a cutlery – Patrick Defacq takes pleasure in using them every day around the family table. “The tragedy of our job is to see people forget these magnificent pieces in the drawers. They go very well in the dishwasher, so why go without! »Encourages his manager. Who is faced with another difficulty: that of perpetuating a profession “of patience, thoroughness, finesse”. “The next generation is not always easy to find,” notes Eric Ortet. It takes enthusiasts. “
