Chanel to create Parisian hub for its ‘Métiers d'art’ artisan partners

By

Olivier Guyot

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Dec 11, 2017

The news was first leaked to the local press over a year and a half ago, and now Chanel has confirmed it will create a dedicated hub for its fine craftsmanship activities, known as the Métiers d'art. The building, hosting the luxury label's artisan partners, will be established in 2020 in the Porte d'Aubervilliers area, to the north of Paris. The 25,500 m2 building, extending over five floors with two basements, will host various workshops and ateliers.

The building's design has been commissioned to architect Rudy Ricciotti, who notably worked on the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations (MUCEM) in Marseilles and the Jean Bouin multi-purpose stadium in Paris.

"The building's vertical structure has been devised to host activities that are closely linked to fashion, bringing together several of Chanel's fine craftsmanship activities (Métiers d'art) within one single site, while preserving their individuality as independent, autonomous businesses," wrote Chanel in a press release. "Built using an innovative type of concrete, it will be framed within an elegant external shell, a reference to the world of textile fabrics. The building's cantilever design will allow its work spaces – for creative studios and production ateliers - to have flexible, efficiently arranged layouts, making their activities better connected, more closely supervised and allowing the sharing of services and logistics facilities."

It will be a way for Chanel to bring together in one location all the artisans who work under the administrative umbrella of the label's Paraffection subsidiary and who, since 2012, had begun to set up shop in the Pantin and Aubervilliers areas to the north of Paris. They include the Lognon pleating workshop, feather artisan Lemarié, shoemaker Massaro, embroiderer Lesage, jeweller Goosens and milliner Michel.

Karl Lagerfeld recently featured the creations of Chanel's Métiers d'art craftsmen at a show in Hamburg.