Nadège
Today I present to you Nadège. She runs the Heldé Printing Company [nadege.tournay@imphelde.fr] which she took over in 97 following the too-early death of her beloved father.
Nadège is part of my professional and emotional network. Yes Yes ! Believe me, contrary to the worn-out cliché, it is entirely possible to be an entrepreneur, demanding and sentimental. It is even recommended, in the face of all the bad winds that we are facing at the moment, to solicit all that is good and generous in this good old human factor.
The Heldé printing company was one of the very first traveling companions of my Brand.
My brochures, my booklets, my cards on pretty paper came out of the printing house, always decorated with Nadège's big smile and... flexible and kind arrangements on payments.
The printing house is located in the “Cité” at 36 Bvd. of La Bastille, like an enclave of artisans in the middle of the big city. Every time I entered to take my delivery, on the run as always - punctuality is the challenge I swore to take up in 2021 - a few words from Nino Ferrer in The House near the Fountain rose to the surface of the trunk of emotions, which in my case, is always ready to overflow: ... the house near the public housing projects has given way to the factory and the supermarket / the trees have disappeared, but it smells of hydrogen sulphide, gasoline, war, society... It's not so bad, and that's normal, it's progress.
Eh yes ! In a corner of the printing house, an old mechanical rotary press sits majestically, a trace of times long past when companionship was the norm, but eco-responsibility was not a subject of attention. It wasn't "better before", it was just different, in the prehistoric times before the digital economy. You have to know how to get on the right train without regretting having missed it.
But Nadège knew how to negotiate all the turns in her profession, according to the turns that all her clients themselves took and imposed on her. There is inevitable Darwinism in the life of an entrepreneur, whether small, medium or large.
In the 1980s, the Heldé printing company was almost captive to banks and insurance companies, large functions then very demanding and time-consuming. And then, it's not so bad, it's progress , they have forced themselves to dematerialize their "paperwork" in favor of office automation and computerized filing. Nadège then had the intuition that alongside the large administrative machinery there was room for a quality printing press. Heldé invests in high-performance machines capable of converting a digital file into personalized illuminations in real time. It is not the least of paradoxes to note that globalization will not have killed the need for authenticity and proximity, quite the contrary.
A beautiful card on vellum paper is worth all the elliptical text messages we send out for a yes, for a no.
In fact, today Heldé serves and cultivates a clientele dedicated to events, sports, festivals, luxury brands, catering too, with reflexes and know-how - respect for deadlines and personalization - worthy of the best brands that deliver quality and enjoy the privilege of being recognized.
Alas, you have just understood how all these sectors of activity, oh so “essential” despite recent inconsistent classification, are suffering from the damage caused by a sneaky and devastating virus. They have dragged the printing press into desolation, with its cash flow dwindling dramatically since March. But Nadège will not give up, I know it. She cultivates her network to restart as soon as we exit the tunnel, which is close if we stay united. Among all the vaccines that will contribute to the much-hoped-for recovery, there is one called resilience and trace, those that allow us to move forward while retaining only the best of the blows that fate has inflicted on us.
For all these reasons, we placed a special order with Heldé, that of our stationery for the holidays. Happiness never comes alone. Nadège's beautiful paper will serve the drawings of Clémentine du Pontavice and her bird whose "endless growth demands us." Let's soar on the air and waters! Birds are the dust of the soul” (V.Hugo – Song of the Birds) . When you receive our stationery, think of Nadège who doesn't let go in bad weather. Help her if you can and promote her online, she deserves it like all these SMEs for whom the most exceptional financial aid will never replace the smiles of satisfied customers.
In my book, I told you the story of 4 rue Chanaleilles. In another recent life, I often walked there with Michka, my nose at ground level. Me, I was rather nose and head in the air, literally and figuratively. I always stopped to read and reread the inscription on marble which confusedly attracted me, above the door of the beautiful building covered in ivy. It reads:
René Char lived in this house from 1954 to 1978.
“A poet must leave traces of his passage, not proof.
Only the traces make us dream »
Without Gutenberg and the invention of printing, we would be very poor in traces.
CH
His email: imphelde@imphelde.fr
Telephone: 01 43 43 98 16
Address: 36 Boulevard de la Bastille, 75012 Paris
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heldeparisbastille/
Website: http://imphelde.com/
