September 21 and 22 were European Heritage Days, once a year, when normally closed-to-the-public sites such as inaccessible facilities and cultural heritage sites are opened to the public.
Opened in 2022, Le19M houses 12 maisons under the Chanel umbrella and employs about 700 of the world’s top class artisans.
The name Le19M comes from the 19th arrondissement of Paris (and Aubervilliers) where Le19M is located, Gabrielle Chanel was born on August 19, and the perfume No19 was born on that 19th day. It also combines M for Maitre d’Art (artistic craftsmanship), Mode (fashion), and Main (hand).
Designed by Rudy Ricciotti, the Le19M building is covered in white thread. The Le19M building is a spacious 25,500 m2 site with a large courtyard that will stimulate creativity through the beauty of nature’s formations. The natural beauty of the site is sure to inspire creativity.
Among the 12 maisons shown on the European Heritage Day was Lesage, an embroidery house founded in 1924 that specializes in haute couture and has been a part of Chanel since 2002.
I was shown how the work is done, and the embroidery process looks roughly like this. A model and sample are made based on designs from famous maisons such as Chanel, and the embroidery pattern is transferred to the cloth through tracing paper. The cloth is then placed in a wooden frame, and the embroiderer embroiders stitch by stitch. It is all a meticulous process that requires a lot of patience. On this day, two Japanese women demonstrated embroidery. It is always nice to see Japanese people working abroad.
Lussaje has an embroidery school, and if you look at the website, there is a page in Japanese, which must mean that many people from Japan come to learn Lussaje’s embroidery.
Lusage also has a textile department and showed us the process of weaving on a handloom. The weaving process is very sophisticated, as it involves the use of unusual materials such as plastic and paper.
After visiting the Lussaje, we went to the gallery in Le19M, where an exhibition looking back on 100 years of the Lussaje is open until January 5, 2025, and admission is free.
You can see explanations of the embroidery process here, too, with a focus on Karl Lagerfeld and Virginie Viard’s clothing, and there are also pieces on display that have been turned into contemporary art.
In addition, Le19M also offers a hands-on embroidery workshop. There is also a spacious high-ceilinged café where you can buy original goods.
The items made at Le19M are things that I, as a commoner, cannot afford and would not be interested in using myself, but as works of art to look at, they are very interesting, and it was a rare opportunity to see up close the passion of the creators who make them and the craftsmen who give them shape.
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