‘Lots of people laughed at me in the beginning and thought I was crazy, especially my colleagues,’ Genty recalls. ‘But I didn't let that hold me back.’ After spending 20 years working for French television broadcaster Canal+, the trained furniture maker decided to start afresh in his old profession in 2016. Afresh with a concept that can only be called visionary: ‘I live in Paris, a megacity where the rent is unaffordable and the traffic is regularly at a standstill. Why open a furniture making business there, with a workshop and company vans?’ Genty asks. He doesn't wait for an answer. ‘I don’t have a van, nor do I have a workshop. Everything I need for my furniture making I have with me on my cargo bike.’
Mobile in the city
Philippe Genty is a furniture maker in Paris. He doesn’t have a workshop or a van – instead he has two cargo bikes and all sorts of cordless tools in a Systainer. His concept of the ‘L’ébéniste à vélo’ – ‘the cycling cabinetmaker’ – is actually very simple and perhaps that is why it is so visionary.
Philippe Genty
L’ébéniste à vélo
Philippe Genty, a trained furniture maker, founded his company L’ébéniste à vélo – French for ‘the cycling cabinetmaker’ – in 2016. His sustainable concept is both ecological and economical: He goes without a costly workshop and is extremely mobile on his cargo bike. Genty uses only choice woods and the best tools.
It’s a marvellous day in Paris. The morning sun drenches the city centre in a warm glow. Philippe Genty enjoys this scene as he sits on his cargo bike and pedals through the streets. At the Pont de Bercy, he takes the bike path over the Seine, passes the Jardin des Plantes, heads straight towards the dome of the Panthéon and then dips energetically into the narrow Rue Valette. He has an appointment with a customer there. Curious passers-by watch as he dismounts the bike. The lettering on his bike reads ‘L’ébéniste à vélo’ – a furniture maker on wheels? How strange. How does that work? We ask ourselves the same thing.
Mobile through and through: With the cargo bike and carefully chosen tools
Genty works exclusively on site at his customers’ premises. The fact that the furniture maker places great value not only on the quality of his craftsmanship but also on the material he works with is part of his concept. His cargo bike, which is from a French manufacturer, can carry up to 200 kg and the trailer another 300 kg. He procures the wood from choice suppliers in France and Germany. When he works with large, heavy pieces of wood, he has them shipped directly to the customer.
And he never goes anywhere without his Festool tools. ‘I’ve always been impressed with Festool tools, but since I’ve started cycling around as a furniture maker I’ve come to appreciate the whole system even more,’ raves Genty. ‘I have to be able to transport my tools as easily as possible – and the Systainers are perfect for that. I have to be able to work anywhere at any time – and Festool cordless tools are ideal for that. I have to be able to rely on my tools one hundred per cent – and with Festool I can do that with absolute certainty.’
Everything ready to go at any time: With the mobile workshop in the courtyard
Systainers with cordless screwdrivers and sanders are stacked in the carrier and cargo holders of his cargo bike, along with a mobile TSC 55 cordless plunge-cut saw and a Systainer with hand tools. Genty even has a special attachment on his bike for the guide rail. And since his customers especially appreciate clean work, he always keeps a compact Systainer CT SYS dust extractor with him as well.
This time he doesn’t need the dust extraction. He can work outside in the courtyard of his customer, jewellery designer Salomé Cousseau. On this job, he’s restoring an antique turned wooden pedestal. Genty stacks the Systainers, placing the MFT-SYS with perforated MDF work surface on top, and fixes a roundwood workpiece to it using fastening clamps. He saws the workpiece to size and carefully drills a hole using the PDC cordless drill. The base and feet are mortised extremely cleanly and precisely; Genty does not use any chemical adhesives or binders.
‘Festool is my first choice, because it all just comes together: The excellent tools, the practical Systainers, the whole system – and I have also always had the best experience with customer service.’
Philippe Genty
Ecological, economical, mobile: A forward-looking success model
Salomé Cousseau, who herself integrates exquisite wooden elements in her jewellery, is pleased: ‘I think it’s fantastic that Philippe comes and does his work here, and then off he goes again. Other tradespeople come to look at the workpiece first, have to take it away or maybe even come back again – it’s a lot more of a hassle.’ Philippe Genty, on the other hand, is finished with his work in just under two hours, then packs up his things and leaves the place as he found it. ‘Some customers are really reluctant to hand over their valuable historical furniture for repair off-site,’ he says. ‘They’re happy that I will come to them.’ Around 60 per cent of his orders are restoration jobs. Genty designs and builds fine solid wood furniture as well for many private and commercial customers.
The ‘ébéniste à vélo’ – ‘cycling cabinetmaker’ – has built up a loyal customer base, many of whom come to him through word-of-mouth. After five successful years, no one is laughing at the furniture maker on wheels now. Quite the contrary: His mobile concept is a success model that could be truly visionary in the future, especially in large cities. That’s what Genty is working on. He does not see himself as a lone wolf; instead he shares his experiences with colleagues in his guild and other crafts in France in the nationwide association ‘Les boîtes à vélo’ – French for ‘boxes on bicycles’. ‘In Paris alone we now have five woodworkers who use bicycles in their work. And that number is growing,’ Genty says happily. Then he mounts his bike, gives a friendly wave and sets off to see his next customer.
