Woodworkers Noël & Pepin were part of the MRC du Haut-Saint-Laurent’s Route des Arts, which included 16 artisans across the region and offers visitors the chance to visit their workspaces.
Noël & Pepin is a custom cabinetry business that specializes in one-of-a-kind pieces and limited series. The president, Réal Noël, says, “I’ve been in the business since 1987, and we moved to the region in 2008.” He and his wife, Johanne Pepin, live in Dewittville and have a workshop of 2400 square feet. The two of them were excited to join Route des Arts, because they say they have been feeling like there needs to be a way to showcase the amazing artisans in the community. They were thrilled to participate, and Noël says, “We were really satisfied with how it went.”
The weekend itself was a lot of fun, and Noël says that the best part was “the human contact that we had between us and the visitors. We had great visitors, and people were really interested in what we do.” They were so busy answering questions and showing the studio, they barely had time to do any work. About 40 people visited over the two days.
At Noël & Pepin they work mostly with solid wood as opposed to wood panels. Noël says, “We transform the product 100 per cent. We love to work with it; almost everything we do is solid. We do panels sometimes but mostly solid.” They do both design and construction, which is not something that all cabinetry places do. Noël remarks that this job is “a passion that I have had for a long time. It’s a discipline that seems like it’s disappearing,” noting that less people are learning to work with their hands in jobs like this.
Recently, Noël & Pepin opened an Etsy store called Just Fine Wood as a way to reach clients outside of Quebec. They sell smaller items that can be shipped and are testing the waters to see what the demand is.