“My beautiful owl”… With his mischievous blue eyes, Ardaches Papazian contemplates the object that has just been given to him. It has been thirty-one years since the jeweler took charge of “his” gold owl. “I’ve lost the habit,” he slips, a bit mockingly as he puts the statue back on its base. A few days ago, the founders of the game went to Lyon to ask him to restore the bird to “its former glory”, before handing it over definitively to the winner of the enigma.
Because while much has been said about the treasure hunt and its recent resolution, the jeweler had remained somewhat in the shadows. However, it was he who made the coveted object. “A hell of a challenge,” he sums up when welcoming us into his small workshop, located very close to Place des Terreaux. “At first I thought about a medal. I never imagined it would be this big,” he laughs while spreading his arms as a demonstration.
Word of mouth from Pierre Bellemare
How did this jeweler of Lebanese origin become associated with the biggest treasure hunt in France? Thanks to “Pierre Bellemare”, he replies with his eternal smile: “It was he who told the creators of the game: “call Papazian in Lyon””.
Back in 1993. Michel Becker, one of the co-founders of La Chouette d'or, is actively looking for a craftsman to bring it to life. The experiment undertaken with a Parisian founder ended in failure. There is therefore an urgent need to find the rare pearl. However, far from the capital, “Papaze” already enjoys a solid reputation in the community. Landing between Rhône and Saône in the 1970s after fleeing his native Beirut, the man quickly caught the eye of the biggest jewelry stores. He learned the trade at the age of 14, on the job. “After two years, I mastered all aspects of it and set out on my own. For us, it was routine. In Lebanon, it's make or die, you can only count on yourself. I started at 16 and I already had three employees,” he emphasizes.
At 18, he found himself back at square one. The bombs destroyed his workshop. The young man decides to try the adventure abroad and sets down his meager belongings in Lyon, where his creativity hits the mark. The craftsman gradually climbs the ladder and decides after ten years to open his own shop. Pierre Bellemare then spotted him and regularly called on him for his television shows. “This is how the link was made,” summarizes the jeweler. “I had prepared a little wax owl. When Michel Becker came and laid out his plans, I couldn't believe it, he laughs. I replied that I was not equipped for this type of work. “. Especially since time is running out, the owl must be ready in three weeks.
A delicate mission
The mission is delicate. “If there had only been silver or gold to melt, it would have been less of a problem. But, there were both. It was a hassle. You should know that silver melts at 600°C and gold at 800°C, recalls Ardaches Papazian. Plus, I didn't yet have an oven to melt the metal. But I wanted to succeed. » The man collaborates with a founder and goes through the days at a breakneck pace, “between 16 and 18 hours of work per day to meet the deadline”.
The welding particularly gave him a hard time, he remembers, hilariously. “There was such a furnace in the workshop. The employees who were nearby were in the water. It was madness. » The equation is not simple to solve: use the blowtorch as closely as possible – without an appropriate combination at the time – and face “unbearable heat”, or move away but risk that the metal will not melt enough. “I ended up finding a solution: making a two-meter wire for welding without getting too close. » To polish the statue and create the bird's plumage, the craftsman will, once again, use his imagination. “I found a little tool that allowed me to do exactly what I wanted while saving time,” he confesses. Today, there are 3D machines to help us. Thirty years ago, we did everything by hand. »
Today, Aradaches Papazian is “proud” of his owl. “I didn't think it would take so long to find her,” he slips mischievously, while asserting that he never knew where she was hiding. At the time of revealing the final alterations made to the bird, the jeweler confesses, in a video posted on YouTube, to have “worked between 15 and 20 hours” to add the missing diamonds, to take back the head which presented several “cracks” after a shock. “Everything is caught up, she is even better than the first day,” he concludes, passing his hand one last time over the wings of his “baby”. An Owl ready to take flight away from him.
