Villaines-les-Rochers - A cave village among the Loire valley chateaux

The Touraine region is famous for its chateaux and its pleasure gardens watered by the Loire and its tributaries: the Vienne, the Cher and the Indre rivers.

7 kilometers from Azay-le-Rideau and between Tours and Chinon, is the place of the cave village of Villaines-les-Rochers where osier is cultivated and woven for centuries.

More over, this small country village is a privileged place for a commercial company, which was at first agricultural.

The village became the basketry capital with 70 basket workers representing more than one third of the trade, the biggest basket workers group in France.

The basketry Cooperative of la Vannerie de Villaines

Officially created in 1937, the company of the agricultural cooperative of basket workers of Villaines-les-Rochers is the continuation of the first basket workers company born in 1849, november 15th thanks to Father Jean-Laurent CHICOISNE, priest-ploughman, and to the financial support of Earl de la Villarmois, a local noble.

Until 1970, the practice of basket work was transmitted from generation to generation.
From 1975, the Cooperative became fully operational and opened to young people trained to the basket work and coming from all regions of France.
From 1975 to 1985, more than 50 basket workers intregrated the cooperative and the village.

Since its creation, the Basketry Cooperative Company developped despite crisis, economic changes. It adapted through training, the rejuvenation of osier producers and workers, the opening to new markets and the creation of products mixing osier with wood and metal, keeping and developping a unique know-how in Europe.

Among the 70 basket workers of the cooperative, the presence of five Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (Best Workers of France) testifies our know-how.

More over, the basketry Cooperative received the brand Savoir-faire du Parc Naturel Régional Loire Anjou Touraine (Know-how from the Regional Natural Park of Loire Anjou Touraine), which guarantes the qualities linked to raw materials, to the know-how and the natural genuine and craft character of this activity.