The world is Stone !

A magician. A true one. A tattoo. An insane tatoo on his pubis. The large coin hides the best. slightly provocative Stone? Exhib? A real show off ? A little bit of all that. Anything else? Indeed an undeniable talent. Fingers everywhere. Cards and fans in large number. He is just so cute! ...

by Didier Puech ( Magicus, la Revue des Presti-agitateurs. July 1999 )

    David Stone has become very famous in France over the past three years with his successful videos about Coin Magic. Jardonnet, his producer, has backed a good horse. Pure-bred. Nervous, high-performer. At 26, this young professional has already inhaled the filthy rich air of Saintt-Tropez and private clubs : a world which he likes because that fulfils his dreams at that time, then he moves onto other things.  “The first year, I came back from Saint-Tropez big-headed”, he retorted lifting his head, “ I could no longer fit through doors...it was a real blow for me to return!” He is as comfortable as a fish in water in the world of emirs and show business stars.  

 

David takes revenge...     David was born in Val d’oise. He had a modest family, a father passionate about cinema whom he accompanied to film shootings, a mother who chose his hairstyle and his clothes. At school, it was no fun: “I was puny-looking.  I had long hair like the french Serge Lama at the time”.  He was fed up of being picked on by the other kids and went to martial arts ( “ I learned it very badly and became very violent; but martial arts gave me self-confidence ” ). He regularly sent his class mates to hospital...enrolled in music class, he learned the recorder and guitar, but his passion lay in cinematography make-up; a passion no doubt passed on from his father who liked going to cinema sets and rubbing shoulders with the stars.     In 1989, everything went serious, or very nearly anyway, when he embarked on a degree in philosophy : “Cards were useful as bookmarks”, he said casually, whilst explaining that a student friend triggered a passion in magic in me by finding a chosen card..     This solitary character went onto meet, much later on, people who were to create a sensation:  Arnaud Debaisieux and Damien Vapro, before the arrival of the providential Stéphane Jardonnet.  David Stone became the group’s pet ( read Stone’s group ) and buried once and for all his solitary, teenage life.

 

Stone, 

The group again… 

    Not even 30 and already  producer of two successful David Stone videos.  At 16, this young man with his misleading shy manner actually raked in a small fortune by selling telephone cards: a new market is profitable.  He is smart, quick, a hard worker.  He left for a year to live a little, on the tracks of Cazeneuve to Madagascar then to discover magic at Club Med with, amongst others, the magicians Ben Ducobu and Sylvain Mirouf.  He opened a shop in Paris, in 1994, “The key to miracles” which ought to have closed in 1997 but continued trading by correspondence...

  Everything was going well for him but he decided to step up the space by putting a lot into a new person: David Stone.  David had not done anything yet and was unheard of in the world of magic.  Everyone advised Stone to “not do the video with him”.  Just to contradict people for the sake of it, David went off in search of Jardonnet’s company: the result was a video about coins where David would sacrifice his own character and personality to work solely on the technical and pedagogic side.  He had to cut his hair, he cut it. He had to write all the texts and learn them by heart.  He no longer slept...”A real tyran”, Stone confirmed to us with the respect of someone who had a rough time for a good cause, and everyone agrees the result is irreproachable.

Jean-Charles Rosenberg, The Guide

    Previously, a restaurant owner, today the owner of Le Magasin de Magie ( a large magic Shop ), 13, rue du Temple, Paris.  He learned magic by watching Dominique Webb on TV.  He became a magic professional six months after meeting Damien Vapro, a genius. He made it possible for Stone to travel to Cuba and St-Tropez ( La Voile Rouge ). He is still there to offer Stone some dream opportunities...

Damien Vapro, The Genius

    Stone met him at Guy Lore (Paris Magic) and couldn’t resist the gigantic library at his disposal. “He finds 20 solutions for one problem, a creative genius, comparative to Bloom’s style...” Stone says with sparkling eyes...Vapro is straightforward, direct, and not very commercial, such qualities which are likely to leave him somewhat in the shade...  

    There is an impressive multi-media library at his place. He is the director of the information society “Anim’ Expo”.  Debaiseux is closely linked to the “Horse’s mouth” bar, a place devoted to magic on Tuesday nights.  A really youthful, witty atmosphere is created with up and coming magicians performing, whether they are known or unknown. 

Zakary Belamy, The "speed" Photographer 

    He started out in Photography in 1992, particularly interested in many genres: night photography, studio, stage and people.  Self-taught.  His first photo exposition was in “Weekend Magik” by Joker Deluxe in 1999.  He was dreaming of doing “naked male models and David turned up in the middle of his act “stark naked”! Zakary had a good laugh about the scenario and shot him ( with his dignity in tact ).  Zakary hates using digital photography and prides himself on never using it.  It’s an insult to ask him: what software have you used? He produced all the photos for Week-end Magik*, Les Amis de la Magie**, The Horse’s mouth bar and the evening “Magie pour le Kosovo” ( Magic for Kosovo ) at L' Olympia...  

* Large convention in Paris        **magic club in Paris

The team of " Comme par Magie ", The Friends

    Under the leadership of Carlos Cardoso, a dynamic team, always on the ball and smiling ( Stéphane Corréas, Nathalie, Philippe, Riton...).  “Comme par Magie”, 115, rue du Cherche Midi in Paris, is actually the most trendy Parisian magic shop where present-day young talent train and will be there for those to come...  

    Brought up in Toulouse, attended a Parisian University but remains a world citizen ( with a particular fondness for the states).  David knew Sébastien from the “Comme par magie” shop and they get on well from the start. After several magic/university courses( and vice-versa) in the “Coca-Cola” country, Sébastien returned with a dubious taste in food, but also an in-depth knowledge of the language and magical methods.  He translated Stone’s videos...  

    His two videos are still selling like hotcakes, especially following a brave anonymous attempt to shoot this great pair of videos down in flames, via the internet: “It’s crazy, a guy sabotages me on the internet and sales increased by 10% in the weeks that followed”, laughs David... He is preparing an English version of his work* supported by the splendid Sébastien Clergue.  Our magician is equally working  on a stage number with a choreographer to put on a ten minute act “with lots of visual effects, to make it more lively” based on the theme of a smoker, using rocks, probably big coins...

* Basic Coin Magic Vol.1 & Coin magic Vol.2