LVMH Announces Center for Craftsmanship
Housing Louis Vuitton’s Institut des Métiers d’Excellence program.
It seems like luxury brands are getting into the education side of things as Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy is opening a center for craftsmanship in Paris.
The 21,500 square foot building will serve a physical space for LVMH’s training program Institut des Métiers d’Excellence, which was founded nearly ten years ago in 2014. The institute is open to the public and teaches 280 different trades and vocations. The house has already trained over 2,700 people across seven countries, enrolling 700 students this year alone. With this new development, the luxury house will include niche fields, including gem sculpting and eyewear manufacturing, hiring 22,000 specialized artisans.
“This place is a tower of transmission,” Alexandre Boquel, Head of Development for LVMH’s Métiers d’Excellence shares. “It will be open to all and the promise is that the moment you walk in here, you will learn a physical gesture, whether you’re a novice, a member of the public or a researcher in craftsmanship.”
Much like Bottega Veneta’s recent venture into education, the new center will focus primarily on learning with career success in mind. “It’s extremely important to talk about that because when we talk to young people, they’re always afraid that these are jobs from 200 years ago and they won’t be able to relate,” Boquel adds. “Letting them know that these professions also use digital technology reassures them.”
Construction is scheduled to begin next year with a possible opening at the end of 2025.
