After taking root in the heart of the Orléans forest, the “tiny houses” of Parenthese are thinking big

2023-10-03 18:08:46

In Nibelle in Loiret, a new carpentry workshop has just opened. On 400 m2, we only manufacture… “tiny houses”, these wooden sheds with a refined design and low energy bill, very popular with the French in recent years. In charge, Xavier Jeannin, 42, specialist in wooden frame houses, decided to devote himself entirely to this new activity.

His path forked thanks to a meeting, that of Samantha Bailly and Antoine Fesson, who, in 2021, opened an original ecotourism site in Chambon-la-Forêt called “Parenthesis”, which they installed in an old campsite. On 5 hectares of wooded land, the couple offers to come and go green in tiny houses decorated by artist-authors, for a weekend, a vacation or a watercolor, embroidery, yoga retreat, etc.

“We want to move upmarket with new models”

“The first houses were purchased from a builder, but the following ones were self-built, Samantha Bailly and Antoine Fesson needed someone, so we never left each other,” summarizes Xavier Jeannin, holder of a degree in economics and management, who trained in carpentry with the journeymen in Tours.

Designed by an interior designer, these small, sustainable houses, with a neat interior, are 2.5 m wide by 7.2 m long and can accommodate two to four people depending on the model. The project quickly grew, to the point that the trio decided to found Cocoon, a company entirely dedicated to the manufacture of tiny houses. “We want to move upmarket, develop new models. We have already done one with a Nordic bath heated by a wood stove which is very popular,” explains the co-founder of Parenthese, Antoine Fesson.

The Parenthesis tourist site, which offers an original concept around tiny house accommodation, has just created its own construction company, to build ten additional houses and develop new projects.

For the coming months, it is planned to do around ten for the Chambon-la-Forêt site, which already has thirteen accommodations. The workshop, which should soon employ five people, will also be able to manufacture them for other clients, and it cannot be ruled out that Parenthese will develop its concept elsewhere in France, with new needs in mind.