Light it up!
I’ve always loved drawing.
I discovered jewellery workshops by chance.
I wanted to work with my hands.
We live in a time where our work is valued.
Welcome to our world!
We’re at Lesage, it’s the embroidery house for Chanel,
we do everything that’s sparkly and exciting.
There are so many amazing techniques.
This is our tool for battle,
it’s a way of adding beads and sequins
that’s really, really fast.
We’ll show a load of designs to Chanel and they’ll say which
they like, which they don’t like,
what we’ll work on a little bit more.
One person might be working on one sleeve,
one person the other,
and then we don’t see anything until we see it on the catwalk.
When we see it come together,
it’s like an amazing feeling.
The first time I came here was a good memory.
I guessed there was going to be really amazing female technicians,
and I was going to learn a lot.
I started self-taught, but now I am
gaining technique, I think.
I think, nowadays, there are lots of young people
that come into companies like this to work,
to learn this savoir-faire, and pass it on,
and I hope there will be other young people like me
to learn these very specific craft jobs.
It’s really important that these things last.
Here we are in the weaving department.
For the latest collection,
we have incorporated feathers into the weave.
The first step for the weaving we do here
is the set up of the chain.
You fledge the threads in each heddle,
one by one,
and that’s how to create your weave.
Luxury is an opportunity to take the time
to develop incredible things.
I think I’m really proud of being able to maintain
a skill that was disappearing.
I was really impressed at how much detail there was,
working on a flower that was only 3-4cm.
What is also inspiring and nourishing in this atelier,
is that there are 50-60 year old people
who have always worked differently,
and now, there is the new generation coming up,
25-30 year olds, bringing different skills.
We put a lot of heart into each piece.
This is the jewellery workshop.
So we take a mold like this,
and it’s made on a cast iron ‘tree’.
We cut the bracelet from the ‘tree.’
I think craftsmanship is coming back
with new technologies that are compatible with it.
Here, we only do pleating.
We call this pattern, a ‘flat sun’.
We often compare this to origami.
There are all the ‘fantasy’ pleats also,
that are really well made with a lot of different patterns.
We are doing a job where the quality is so high
that we need to take our time.
Especially in a time where more jobs are done on computers.
And at the same time, we have a lot of movements.
Young people’s movements, ecological movements,
that translates a desire to return to essential things.
Fashion needs craft, and craft needs fashion.
I just want to keep learning and enriching this savoir-faire,
and pass it on.