Scroll down for English text

Our story with Au ver a Soie: As you may know, I am a historian and have worked for a museum for many years. Hence my love for old samplers and fine embroidery. At some point I was just tempted to embroider a sampler and I - like probably everyone else - started to embroider with cotton yarn. Nevertheless, my result did not look as delicate, as subtle and as noble as the samplers that were in our museum showcases. The samplers made up to 1825 are almost all embroidered with silk thread, some also with linen thread. So I went in search of fine silk yarns and found what I was looking for in a handicraft shop in northern Germany. There was the silk Soie d'Alger from Au Ver a Soie, but not as a little dowel, but - since it was a real treasure - in very small quantities of one meter for a small fortune. What do you do with a meter of silk thread when you're addicted to embroidery? Nothing!

I needed all colors and as much of each color as possible. The addiction to embroidery had seized me. So off to Paris. I was in paradise in the wonderful old showroom of Au Ver a Soie, where it feels like nothing has changed in the company's more than 200-year history. Silk yarns of all kinds in countless colors and everything the heart of the embroiderer could desire. I had arrived where I always wanted to be. The quality of the yarns is unrivalled, the color palette of Soie d'Alger includes many shades of green, finely graded shades of brown and beige and of course all other colors your heart desires. This color palette goes beautifully with the colors we see on the old samplers. It was what I was always looking for. My samplers suddenly looked a lot more like the original. I was able to work with much finer gradations and my passion for embroidery continued to grow. In the years that followed I accompanied many exhibitions with workshops or embroidery demonstrations. More and more people were inquiring about silk yarns and the source of these yarn treasures. This is how the idea for the shop came about in 2004. Today we are the wholesaler of Au Ver a Soie for the Benelux and Germany and we are lucky to be part of the big Au Ver a Soie family!

Our story with Au ver a Soie. As you may know, I am a historian and have worked for a museum for many years. Hence comes my love for old samplers and fine embroidery. At some point I was just tempted to embroider a sampler and like probably everyone else I started to embroider with cotton yarn. Nevertheless, my result did not look as delicate, as subtle and as noble as the samplers that were in our museum showcases. The samplers made up to 1825 are almost all embroidered with silk thread, some also with linen thread. So I went in search of fine silk yarns and found what I was looking for in a handicraft shop in northern Germany. There was the silk Soie d'Alger from Au Ver a Soie, but not as a little skein, but - since it was a real treasure - in very small quantities of one meter for a small fortune. What do you do with a meter of silk thread when you're addicted to embroidery? Nothing! I needed all the colors and as much of each color as possible. The addiction to embroidery had seized me. So off to Paris. I was in paradise in the wonderful old showroom of Au ver a Soie, where it feels like nothing has changed in the company's more than 200-year history. Silk yarns of all kinds in countless colors and everything the embroiderer's heart desired. I was where I always wanted to be. The quality of the yarns is unrivaled, the color palette of Soie d'Alger includes many green tones, finely graded brown and beige tones and of course all other colors your heart desires. This color palette goes beautifully with the colors that we discover on the old patterns. It was what I was always looking for. My samplers suddenly looked a lot more like the original. I was able to work with much finer gradations and my passion for embroidery continued to grow. In the years that followed I accompanied many exhibitions with workshops or embroidery demonstrations. More and more people were inquiring about silk yarns and the source of these silk thread treasures. This is how the idea for the shop came about in the year 2004. Today we are the wholesaler for Au Ver a Soie for the Benelux and Germany and consider ourselves lucky to be part of the large Au Ver a Soie family!