More than 25 years ago, our family hosted two French exchange students, Loic and Jean Baptiste. They told us of their grandfather, Phillippe De La Feronniere, a gentleman farmer from Paris who often visited Normandy to meet with the workers on his family’s farms.

An impeccable dresser, Phillippe wore a well-crafted jacket, a tie around a rigid collar, a hat to protect himself from the sun and cold, and high leather riding boots.

Phillippe loved local products such as apples and calvados (brandy) and, most of all, Camembert cheese. He would always share the products that the farmers offered him with his family.

Once, while returning from the farms with the trunk of his Peugeot 404 loaded with Camembert, Phillippe had an epiphany: to create a tray for easily and tastefully transporting cheese. His idea involved a handle that could be adapted to fit any size plate to elegantly share the cheese.

His father, Ernest, a renowned aeronautical engineer, helped him create a versatile, efficient design using a flexible curved part, which allowed it to adapt to different-sized plates. Phillippe used this simple yet ingenious system to serve and share various foods and delicacies for his entire life.

Fortuitously, grandsons Loic and Jean Baptiste just happened to have two of Phillippe’s prototypes from the 1940s, which they shared with us. Sensing enormous potential, we took an old idea and made it new and exciting. In 2017, we launched our company, Plate Poignee LLC, which translates to “plate handle.” Our product name, COVALEY, combines the coil design of the product with a play on “valet,” one who serves, which makes our name a perfect representation of our products.