Mattelon Silk Workshop

This is Lyon's last family-run silk-weaving workshop, a vestige of its cottage silk industry.

It remained in operation until 1996 and was fully conserved by its owner, the master silk-weaver Georges Mattelon, who gave guided tours of the workshop with the help of the association Soierie Vivante until his death in 2004.

His son, Jacques Mattelon, took over the reins of the workshop, which has been a protected Historical Monument since 1996. It is of great interest for the history of silk-weaving techniques (with handlooms on the second floor and mechanical looms on the ground floor) and the silk-weaving industry in the nineteenth century.

It is depicted on the Mur des Canuts mural in Croix-Rousse and has been reproduced as a miniature model at the Musée Miniature et Cinéma in Vieux-Lyon.

The workshop collaborates with the association L’Esprit Canut and a handful of artisans work to restore it and keep it operational.

Visits include a silk-weaving demonstration on original looms, with explanations of the techniques used, as well as a presentation of the various looms owned by La Fabrique des Soies and a brief introduction of the history of the workshop and Lyon's silk industry.