The Verrerie d'art de Soisy-sur-École (91), where you can admire glassblowers at work

On the banks of the École river, nestled in the heart of theEssonne region (91), the Verrerie d'art de Soisy-sur-École takes you into a world where glass is shaped before your very eyes. Here, glassblowers work live, offering a hypnotic spectacle, punctuated by the heat of the furnaces and the dance of glowing bubbles.

The story begins in 1977, when Elizabeth Giraud, then director of the La Rochère glassworks in Haute-Saône, decided to create an artisanal glassworks in the Paris region to bring this age-old know-how closer to the public. She chose a green setting and entrusted management to her youngest daughter, Marie-Alice Alary, who reinvented the company's identity. Her brightly-colored collections are designed to appeal to a wide range of consumers, from decorative pieces to tableware and everyday objects.

After 34 years at the head of the workshop, Marie-Alice passes the torch - or rather, the cane - to her son Frédéric Alary. A converted lawyer with a CAP in his pocket in 2010, he perpetuates the emblematic collections while exploring new techniques: delicate filigree, incalmo (hot-molding of two colored bubbles) and mold-free creations.

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Awarded the Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant label and the Grand Prix du tourisme technique et de savoir-faire, the glassworks offers free tours from Wednesday to Sunday. Visitors are invited to stroll through the glass garden, a poetic space where creations blend into nature, before entering the workshop to watch the ballet of glassmakers in action, and ending up in the boutique, a veritable Ali Baba's cave for lovers of unique pieces.

Here, the age-old tradition of glassblowing is lived, contemplated and breathed at close quarters.