A new floor of 300 m² for the sailmaker Lem
Patrice Hannequin has been sailing and designing sails for a very long time when he decided to create the sailmaker Lem in 2005. After having designed sails made by others for a long time, he started to manufacture them. The company settled in Malansac, in the Morbihan, at a distance from the sea. After having used the former Super U of the city as a floor, with the thwarted ambition to create a nursery of craftsmen, he moves in an old reconverted agricultural building. But its access proves to be difficult for truck deliveries and in the absence of solution to the expiry of the lease, the sailmaker Lem ceases its activity in 2019.
In 2021, the master sailmaker finally decided to restart his business. "I ended up building the 300-square-meter floor that I had planned when I built my house, which is also the company's headquarters. This is also where the office is where I design the sails. I wanted to start building sails again, as I think it should be done," explains the founder of the sailmaker Lem, who works alone.
Responding to boater demand and reviving the Code L
The motivation for this new activity also comes from loyal boaters. "I wanted to meet the demand of former customers who wanted to renew the sails of their boats" explains Patrice Hannequin. Now that his new floor is operational, the entrepreneur is working on relaunching his online presence with a website that is being redesigned.
Commercially, the revival is well underway, particularly around the Code L, a multi-purpose headsail designed by the LEM sailmaker to replace the spinnaker, gennaker and light genoa. It is appealing to owners, especially of cruising boats. "For the code L, I started with the booster, a sail from the 1970s/1980s. Its advantage over a spinnaker is its stability, which makes it easier to use in swells. I already have several ordered" says the director of the sailmaker LEM.
