Martin de Candre, the story behind the name and its logo.

Martin de Candre, the story behind the name and its logo. At Martin de Candre, we love the stories ... with soon half a century of existence, our family business has experienced a founding events which contributed to its creation, its evolution and its influence. Thanks to this, we have many anecdotes to share with you! Let's start with the beginning with the story of our brand name . To do this, we must speak to you in the first place of founders of the Savonnerie: Rosine and Dominique Dauge , our grandparents.

Once upon a time, Rosine and Dominique…

Rosine Prache, was born into a family of the Parisian bourgeoisie in 1939. By a happy coincidence, she knew Dominique Dauge, her future husband, in the early 1960s. Last of a siblings of 5 children, he intended to take up the agricultural domain of mestre The Fontevraud Abbey. On a beautiful day in May 1964, the elegant Parisian and the charming Angevin married in the church of Fontevraud then settled in one of the buildings of the family property. At the dawn of the 1970s, their traditional campaign farm, not very mechanized, was overwhelmed by the expansion of "scientifically" managed agricultural businesses, with considerable production yields. Unable to follow this radical upheaval, they decide to develop Two new activities in the appendix : guest rooms (today the the Original Domaine de Mestré ) and artisanal soap.

a soap factory looking for a baptismal name.

The reflection of brand name and First Logo Martin de Candre is three: there is the chemist André Chapuis which forms and transmits its soap-for-law know-how to our grandmother. Then Vincent Prache , a brother of our grandmother who is an accountant and financial advisor and of course Rosine herself, whose will and energy are unequaled! To support them in their research, Vincent Prache calls on an agency to conduct a brand name study . This reveals that a patronymic name would allow to personify the crafts in question. None of the Dauge and Prache families wishing to see its name associated with the Future Factory of soaps , you have to create one of any room! The name must inspire confidence, have a beautiful sound and, failing to be worn by a family member, he must have at least a strong territorial anchoring. However, on his arrival in the region, Rosine had been marked by the extraordinary personality of Saint Martin de Tours, nicknamed "the apostle of Gaul". This great charismatic died in 397 at Candes-Saint-Martin , a village in the Confluent de la Vienne and de la Loire located very close to Domaine de Mestré . She then relies on Saint Martin and the village of Candes to baptize her business "Martin de Candre" . In reality, the soap factory was called for two years "Martin de Candes" but after the reprisals of the village in question, the addition of the "R" as a distinctive sign was essential! ...

two logos to illustrate soap-and-permeal know-how.

Since its creation, one of the peculiarities of the soap factory is to have a double-soap of soap-and-soaping. historically, the Savonnier masters of the 19th century were trained in the art of composing a perfume . Today, most soap cans delegate perfumes to specialized laboratories. Throughout the transmission of his know-how , the chemist André Chapuis taught Rosine this double competence to have great creative freedom afterwards. Indeed, thanks to this very complete teaching, Rosine can always create everything from A to Z , as much the paste soaps as the olfactory creations coming to flavor them.

During the reflection around the logo of her brand, Rosine wishes to distinguish the profession of soapnier and that of perfumer

in his Product ranges . The solid soaps must benefit from a clean logo just like the liquid formulas (liquid soaps, shampoos, eau de toilette ...), mainly highlighting its skills in perfumery ... Vincent and Rosine entrust the study of a first brand logo to Alain Letoct and and Ferlitot , both illustrators of books for young people. Rosine wanting to work only from natural raw materials and according to traditional recipes, these graphic designers have the idea of ​​drawing a flower inspired by prehistory to translate a brand with timeless know-how, anchored in the ages ... The flower is also synonymous with perfume, refinement, hope and beauty. During the first years of Savonnerie, it was the exclusive logo appearing on all Martin de Candre products.

Around 1976, Rosine rediscovers the "reasoned dictionary of science, arts and trades" of Diderot and Alembert. Dated to the Age of Enlightenment, this work is the first French encyclopedia, conceived as a vast system of classification, hierarchy and apprehension of human knowledge. All trades are carefully portrayed, both in writing and by illustrations rich in details. Thus, Rosine falls on the " soap maker ", a mustache character attached to a tank and holding instruments in the hand to saponify. His very royal posture, worthy of the Sun King, is not trivial: it is a reference to the signature in 1688 of a edict of Louis XIV by his minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert who institutionalizes Marseille soap by fixing . Happy with this find, Rosine chooses the engraving of the Savonnier master as a logo for solid soaps. Little by little, the soap maker becomes the predilection symbol by Martin de Candre. He perfectly personifies the name of the brand and perfectly illustrates the process of "hot beaten" practiced in Marseille. Even if all the solid soaps preferred the old -fashioned soap maker on their labels, the imprint on the pressed soaps always remains the stylized flower! By this choice, Rosine undoubtedly wanted to perpetuate a link between the two emblems (the flower and the maker), attached to two different trades. Everyone recalls that the Martin de Candre soap factory masters the art of traditional saponification as much as that of the creation of exceptional perfumes ...

2022, the beginning of a revival of the Martin de Candre identity.

In 2022, we chose to modernize the typography of the brand name and to lighten the drawer of the maker to make it more readable. In reality, our famous master soapnier is not a logo but rather an illustration: its complex and detailed image tells a story ! It is therefore difficult to decline it on all the surfaces and in all the desired formats ... at Martin de Candre, being very attached to our family history and the deep identity of our brand , we wanted to keep the factor while offering him a little refreshment Taste! In 2023, we will start a job of Clarification of our visual identity through our different ranges by favoring the use of the soap maker. For almost fifty years, our core business has resided in the saponification of 100% vegetable and ultra -qualitative soap pasta. Our soapy know-how has been enriched with sharp knowledge from the universe of traditional perfumery to be able to achieve everything in our manufacturing workshop. Three generations follow one another at the head of Martin de Candre with the common desire to create innovative craft products , fruit of exceptional know-how. Over the years, some products such as shaving soap have become flagship products from soap factory, recognized and acclaimed by users worldwide. So we understood better where we were the best and to whom MDC had to go to priority. Thanks to this better knowledge of our activity , our identity is refined and is affirmed just like our ambitions. The modernization of our logo marks The beginning of a revival at Martin de Candre which takes into account the history of the house, its deep values ​​, its time ...