Spindler Studio, St. Léonard

(3 photos)
Marquetry pictures, created by Charles Spindler (1865-1938), line the walls of a dining room in the restaurant Chez Jenny, 39 boulevard du Temple, Paris.

His son, Paul Spindler (1906-1980), created "The Twelve Stations of the Cross," in the nearby hilltop abbey, Mont St. Odile. That beautiful hanging lamp, in the middle of the photo, was designed and created by Paul Spindler. His wife, born in America, came to France in 1939 to work with Dr. Albert Schweitzer. She worked at the American Hospital in Paris during WWII, and after the war she met Mr. Paul Spindler.

The third generation, Jean-Charles (John) Spindler, creates beautiful pictures of the Alsace. Hundreds of veneer-thin pieces of wood from a variety of trees supply the different colors and are cut to fit and form a perfect picture — no paint, stains, or varnish are used. We have his art in our home.

In 1980 and 1985 during our visits to the Spindler Studio, we visited with the late Mrs. Paul Spindler in her thousand year old home that was originally an Abbey. We have visited with Jean-Charles and his wife Betsy, several different years.

After looking at this photo for years, I just noticed that the white object, with a horizonal stripe, just above the heads of the group of people, is our 1977 Dodge Van, parked there when we visited Spindler's in 1980.
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The small group of buildings that include the Spindler studio is on the west side of the road at St. Léonard between Boersch and Ottrott, just outside Obernai. We drove through an arched passageway and found ourselves surrounded by a winery, a couple of homes and other buildings, and on the right, with a courtyard, is the ancient studio.

At one time this was an abbey, but its church was destroyed during the French Revolution. The studio buildings were built between the years 1000 and 1300, but the deed for the property only shows the names of the owners since 1450. Christopher Columbus wasn’t even born until 1451.

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Some tourists peeking in the Spindler Studio workshop window.