Chanel’s 19M centre to stage two-day event showcasing craftsmanship trades

Faced with a shortage of skilled apprentices, French luxury players are launching a charm offensive. Following the ‘Les De[ux]mains du Luxe’ initiative promoted by the Comité Colbert, the ‘Hermès in the Making’ event, and the ‘You & ME’ tour organised by LVMH to showcase its skilled professions, it is now Chanel’s turn to enter the fray. On March 1-2, the luxury group’s 19M centre on the northern outskirts of Paris, home to Chanel’s artisanal maisons, will hold the ‘Mains d’avenir’ (hands for the future) event, designed to immerse students and the general public in Chanel’s craftsmanship excellence, via workshops, round-table debates and conversations with individual artisans.

Visitors will be able to discover nine artisanal trades relating to luxury fashion and accessories: jewellery with Desrues, shoemaking with Massaro, embroidery with Atelier Montex and Lesage, millinery with Maison Michel, couture with Paloma and Lemarié, lingerie with Eres, goldsmithing with Goossens, feathers and flowers with Lemarié, and weaving with Lesage. The venue is the 19M centre at the porte d’Aubervilliers in Paris, home to an embroidery school and the headquarters and archives of 11 maisons owned by Chanel, with 700 artisans and experts in total.

Chanel is aiming to showcase the richness of these trades, illustrating their creativity and innovation, and “showing the wealth of professional opportunities” available. The event will build awareness in young people to help them choose their career, and is also targeting “crafts enthusiasts wishing to retrain,” said 19M in a press release.

Chanel has devised an extensive, well-structured programme aimed at attracting as many visitors as possible. The first day, Friday March 1, is reserved to students, especially those who have signed up for the event from secondary schools in Paris and nearby Créteil. The morning will begin with a speech by Chanel President Bruno Pavlovsky and group head of HR Marine Carré-Bonnange. Afterwards, the students will be able to take part in a series of interviews with artisans and apprentices working at the 19M maisons.

On Saturday, the event will be open to the general public, with advance registration required, and will chiefly feature round-table debates organised in partnership with Le Monde newspaper and its journalists, who will invite artisans and career specialists to “talk about the vitality of skilled professions,” and to outline specific career paths.