Ludivine Dulas, an entrepreneur's life in leather and all-round creations in Millau

Ludivine does not hesitate to personalize her leather straps according to requests. Free Midi – PAULINE CHALIEZ

Ludivine Dulas, from the company Mimeya Créations, is the penultimate portrait of the Midi Libre series on the leather trades in Millau.

Ludivine Dulas is a self-taught artist who creates, among other things, custom leather guitar straps. Having left at 18 to live in Africa with the man who would become her husband, she returned to Lodève about fifteen years ago. She tells : "I’have always enjoyed working with my hands but as part of my leisure time. I made clothes, I worked with wood too. Professionally, I was in the literary world as an assistant librarian for 7 years ".

This type of job being too precarious, after having had two children and buying a house, she wonders about what comes next. After a garage sale, she made her first bags. She researches a lot, watches tutorials and learns. She created her company, Mimeya Créations, in 2016."It means circle in Lakota Sioux, in reference to a part of my life where I wrote a fantasy novel that was about the Lakota Sioux. Braiding is one of my particularities, I really like to incorporate it into my creations, specifies the entrepreneur.

Personalized straps

Then one day, a guitarist she knows well asks her to make him a comfortable and luxurious strap. "I started", says the artist. "I benefited from an Artistic Crafts Pass funded by the Region. I was able to buy raw materials and finance the work of a computer graphic designer to make a brochure for my guitar straps in particular.

With the laser engraver purchased thanks to this support, it offers the customer personalization with a logo for example, the name of a group, a quote, etc. Concerning its straps, the qualified craftsman explains: "I offer an atypical product in the design since all my straps are lined but flexible, n& rsquo;do not have a standard shape, are padded with wadding and are wide. Ludivine Dulas adapts. On request, she also makes saxophone straps, double bass drum harnesses, accordion straps, all custom-made and customizable.

“I have a busy community life”

Ludivine Dulas has two endorsements, that is, two renowned artists who wear and promote her straps, namely Wolf Mail, a French-Canadian blues guitarist, and Fifi Chayeb, a French bassist. An active member of the association behind the Espace Métiers d'Art in Millau, where she has been presenting her creations since 2019, she participates in the board of directors meetings that take place once a month. She is part of the events committee and attends openings and other events that promote crafts. Similarly, she is involved in an association in Lodève. “I have a very busy community life”, she says with a smile. The artist will participate in the Salon de la lutherie in Toulouse as she does every year, but also in Just’n’fest, a hard rock festival in the Gard, as well as in the Rencontre des artisans de la guitare at Paloma in Nîmes.

She tells a striking anecdote: "The longest strap I designed was 1m80. It was for someone who wanted to play standing up and who had inherited his double bass from his father. It was a beautiful story. There is often affect in the creation of the straps since they will end up on stage or in any case accompany the musician, that's also what I like .

The designer focuses on comfort as much as aesthetics. She chooses the color, texture, lacing, braiding, engraving, etc. It follows an ethical and clean approach both in its choice of raw materials and in the design. She often incorporates tinted, varnished and hand-cut ribbons or laces which she then braids into the strap. "All my slices are treated with a fixative or tragacanth gum", she specifies to explain the quality finishes of the edges of her straps.< /p> I subscribe to read more