THE HISTORY OF BLANCPAIN

ART DE VIVRE
A WORLD IN PICTURES
The pictures that illustrate the preceding pages are taken in part from a book entitled,
“Le cueilleur d’arbre.” Only in part because the remaining photographs in this magnificent report can
be found in the self-published book by the photographer from Le Brassus, Anne-Lise Vullioud.
Anne-Lise Vullioud embarked upon her
career path in a seemingly traditional
way: enrolling at the Ecole supérieure d’arts
appliqués in Vevey and earning a CFC in
1989. Like a good native of Le Brassus, she
began her career as a freelance photographer
taking full-size photographs for the
watchmaking industry. Nothing extraordinary
up to that point. In particular, there was
nothing to satisfy a pronounced taste for
travel, not to mention her spirit of independence.
She was feeling somewhat stifled on
this well-worn path. Anne-Lise looked to
other horizons. In 1996, she spent eleven
months between India, Nepal and Tibet.
Fascinated and eager to learn more about
this distant culture, she returned to Tibet
two years later and brought back a “Views
of the Himalayas” exhibition.
Here there are breathtaking summits that
stand thousands of kilometers away from
the crest of the Jura mountains. Curious
about the world and its people, Anne-Lise
has nonetheless not forgotten the importance
of her origins and her roots.
“I was born in the Joux Valley. My grandfather
was a forester. I remember that even
back then people interested in wood for
making stringed instruments were coming
to see him. These trees always take me back
home. When I’m feeling nostalgic, I long for
Le Risoud: the immense spruces, the sound
of the wind in the branches, the smells, the
humus, the mushrooms – I need these vital
flashes.”
THE NOSE IN LE RISOUD
In order to breathe that air while devoting
herself more fully to her personal work,
Anne-Lise set up a studio in her apartment in
Le Brassus in 2004. That year, she also began
working with Céline Renaud and Jeanmichel
Capt, who had just started a company called
JMC Lutherie SA. She had the opportunity
to begin this task with the most magical and
rarest moment: the picking of the single
tree. With Lorenzo (see pages 14 to 23).
Through some thirty pages of bright
images, the photographer immerses her
“readers” in the moment.
Thanks to a perfect mastery of light,
frames in which life in the forest is balanced,
and to the characters captured in the sensitivity
of their specific actions – lumberjacks,
foresters, pickers, lute makers … they are all
there. The series of photographs gives this
universe its inherent movements.
“RUSSIAN SALAD”
In 2006, in the midst of her work with JMC
Guitars came a natural break, dictated by
childhood memories.
“The ticket counter at the Brassus train
station has been long gone. Going to buy
tickets for the unknown at the Sentier-Orient
station, that sounds a little exotic, don’t you
think? ‘Vlladivostok’ means ‘Lord of the East’
and that makes one dream, doesn’t it”?
Writing these lines, she begins a railway jour-