Guy Degrenne (3 August 1925 – 7 November 2006) was a French businessman who specialised in
cutlery
Cutlery (also referred to as silverware, flatware, or tableware), includes any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in Western culture. A person who makes or sells cutlery is called a cutler. The city of Sheffie ...
and silverware. He has founded the Guy Degrenne group, since 1987 a subsidiary of holding 'Table de France'.From .
Biography
Guy Degrenne was born in Tinchebray (Orne). He attended Collège Saint-Joseph in
Caen
Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,ESSEC Business School, and took up his father's steel factory (at Sourdeval) in 1948.
Guy Degrenne first has war-left steel parts collected, and turns them in
stainless steel
Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's corros ...
dishes, with instant commercial success. By 1958, Guy Degrenne sets up a tableware business, then by 1963 ushers in the luxury tableware business, in copying the standards of Parisian goldsmiths.
In 1967, part of the production is moved to a new factory in Vire (Calvados). His business then employs about 600 workers.
In 1978, Degrenne meets national recognition wit a popular advert reminiscent of his school years : a headmaster catches young Degrenne drawing dishes in his notebooks margin, and then warns him against ill-success (''Ce n'est pas comme cela que vous réussirez dans la vie'').