Leather and glove-making course to launch in Millau
Work continues on a bid from the leather- and glove-making town of Millau in southern France to have its traditions included in the Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
It will now be March 2023 when UNESCO receives the full dossier on Millau’s bid.
Among the important steps the bid team will take before then is one to set up formal training for young people in the local area to learn about small-skins tanning and glove-making.
A leading force for the campaign, Olivier Fabre, said in recent comments he gave to local media that a new course should begin in October. Mr Fabre, a master glove-maker and fourth-generation managing director of high-end glove brand Maison Fabre, said there has never been a formal training course for the industry in Millau, with all knowledge and skills transfer taking place inside local businesses instead.
But he said some of the local workshops are currently being run by people who are close to retirement and have no one to take over from them. If that situation were to continue, Mr Fabre warned, Millau’s savoir-faire would be “in danger of extinction”.
In response, the UNESCO bid team has worked with France’s national apprenticeship body, the CFA, with local adult education initiatives and with a local high school to launch the new course. It will last nine months and Mr Fabre said he was hopeful there would be an initial intake of around 12 pupils.
