A personal touch
Home to around 675 artisans highly skilled in their particular craft specialism or métiers d’art, Paris-based Le 19M is shining an even brighter light on handicrafts both local and global this autumn.
Le 19M officially opened its doors in January 2022. Use of the number 19 not only refers to Aubervilliers, the Parisian arrondissement to which the complex belongs, but also the birthday of Chanel’s founder, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, born in western France on August 19, 1883. Ever an important house design code, the last flap bag designed under the firm’s long-time creative chief Karl Lagerfeld was similarly christened the Chanel 19 in a nod to its birth year. Mr Lagerfeld had steered the company for a total 36 years by the time of his death on February 19, 2019. The handbag’s proportions are deliberately evocative of the now-iconic Chanel 2.55 classic flap bag, so named after its February 1955 creation date by Coco Chanel herself. It was co-designed by the brand’s current artistic director, Virginie Viard. Moving on, the “m” to Le 19M likewise symbolises métiers d’arts, mode and the artisanal hand or main behind the maisons that call the 25,500-square-metre space, led by Chanel’s president of fashion, Bruno Pavlovsky, home.
Common heritage
This year marked Le 19M’s inaugural participation in European Heritage Days, held every September since the event first took place in France in 1984. Jointly overseen by the Council of Europe and the European Commission, the programme welcomes participation from members of all fifty European Cultural Convention signatory states.
Embracing the continent’s “living heritage” was this September’s theme. Working in close collaboration with resident bespoke bootmaker Massaro and couture embroidery and tweed-making atelier Lesage, both founded in Paris during the nineteenth century, Le 19M played host to several public-facing talks and workshops geared towards promoting the art of craftsmanship over its own Heritage Days weekend. Head of communications, Camille Hutin, who also leads on Galerie du 19M activities, shared with World Leather how the multidisciplinary venue counted 5,000 visitors in total.
Massaro, the maison responsible for creating Chanel’s two-tone sandal back in 1957, first put down roots in the French capital in 1894. The company’s role in Le 19M’s Heritage Days proceedings for this edition ranged from presenting the different steps involved in constructing a pair of shoes; displaying its beech and hornbeam wood-carved lasts, each of which can take up to six hours to sculpt; showcasing the different leathers and fabrics favoured by the atelier; and exhibiting historical Massaro silhouettes, including those made for Chanel, as a testament to its rich shoe-making heritage. The maison was happy to contribute its artisans’ time and expertise, managing director Jean-Étienne Prach tells us, as part of its wider aims to educate the public and inspire future generations of bootmakers. “As the last women’s bespoke shoemaker,” he continues, “[we are] committed to upholding the highest standards of craftsmanship and traditional techniques.”
Slow luxury
Typically, it takes a Massaro shoemaker, each of whom works from its Le 19M workshop, at least thirty hours to construct a pair of pumps, rising to almost fifty hours for men’s shoes. Prices range from roughly $5,800 (€5,500) for a pair of women’s boots and at least $7,600 or €7,200 for the male equivalent. The time commitment involved, post-consultation, is between one and three months from manufacture to delivery. All shoemaking takes place on-site at Le 19M and the team maintains five apprentices at any given time, Mr Prach explains. Its hiring strategies include looking to graduates of France’s ancient craft guild Les Compagnons du Devoir when filling assembler positions and recruiting clickers from industry. When it comes to would-be apprentices, Massaro actively seeks candidates that possess “a passion for shoemaking and a willingness to learn”. The company works with clients by appointment only, whether from Chanel’s 19 rue Cambon boutique in Paris or at Le 19M itself.
Massaro’s relationship with Chanel, owner of the maison via its Paraffection subsidiary since 2002, runs deep. Accordingly, the house often sources its leathers from Chanel-owned tanneries, but it is always free to source independently. It is just usually more efficient to do so as a team, Mr Prach says. Internal tie-ups with Le 19M peers such as couturier Paloma, Lesage, embroidery atelier Montex, goldsmith Goossens and feather and flower maker Lemarié have additionally resulted in variously embroidered, feathered, and bejewelled Massaro footwear designs in the past. Massaro artisans notably made five pairs of bespoke shoes for Galerie du 19M’s Carla Fernández: The Future is Handmade exhibition, which opened on the first day of Le 19M’s European Heritage Days weekend in September.
Knowledge exchange
Mexico-born Ms Fernández’s eponymous brand works with over 180 weavers, embroiderers, leatherworkers, wood carvers, lacquerers, textile artists and more from across her home country. Based in Mexico City, the ethically minded label prioritises the documentation and preservation of indigenous communities’ textile know-how. With the Galerie du 19M show, the intention is to spotlight the creatives and local craft techniques Carla Fernández has aligned itself with for a quarter of a century through artisan-led visual storytelling, accompanied by a series of hands-on workshops, talks and other learning opportunities. Mexican artists like mask painter Felipe Horta, paper-cutter and embroiderer Arisbeth González and lacquerware specialist Obdulia Almazán are all already on board as part of the complementary cultural programme, as are Parisian artist JR and Le 19M’s Montex.
Ahead of its installation at Le 19M, the Florence Müller-curated show was first staged in Denver, before travelling to Mexico’s capital. Presented anew in Paris on September 16, Mexican Independence Day, the exhibition in its current form features previously unseen works, as well as collaborative pieces produced alongside Massaro, Goossens and milliner Maison Michel, another Le 19M resident, over a period of several months. The Massaro-made boots on display were created with input from Mexican artist Claudio Nájera, who drew inspiration from folkloric Tecuán masks, according to Ms Fernández. On working with the bootmaker, she describes how the co-creation process “was much more design-oriented than with other houses”, from in-person meetings in Paris to communicating via text messages as needed. “The process was extremely fluid and professional, since they had a clear idea of what to do next,” the designer elaborates. Goossens, meanwhile, ultimately decided upon several milagritos, a kind of handicraft or charm, as she puts it, originally inspired by Catholic motifs. Maison Michel made a Charro baseball cap and tortilla-shaped hat “informed by Mexican visual icons”, intended to establish a dialogue with the Carla Fernández clothing.
Paraphrasing the words of Mexican poet and diplomat Octavio Paz (1914-1998), Ms Fernández emphasises how the handmade can serve as a window into the communities, surroundings, and very “soul” of each individual maker. This, in turn, creates a kind of heart-led connection with handicraft, she continues, calling the “implie[d] labour of love and respect” her fundamental jumping-off point and central ethos behind what she hopes The Future is Handmade will convey to visitors about its ongoing, always deeply personal, relevance in contemporary culture. The exhibition is expected to run at Galerie du 19M until December 17.
Massaro-made boots designed in partnership with Mexican artist Claudio Nájera after Tecuán masks.
Credit: J. Mignot
