Categorie: NEWS

The jury for the Price of the young craft talents was held on April 25th. We are honoured that Caroline Martin-Rilhac, Delegate General of the Fondation Rémy Cointreau was one of the members of the jury for the second time. The Foundation, deeply attached to the valorisation of craftsmanship, is proud to support young artistic creation, a symbol of innovation and tradition.

Price of the young craft talents

Created in 1960 and organised by Ateliers d’Art de France, the Price of the young craft talents is an award for young talent under the age of 35. The prize recompenses excellence in creation and innovation in the field of fine crafts.

A jury composed of craft experts will be awarding the prizes on the strength of their artistic quality, technical mastery, and innovative approach. The Prize represents an extraordinary opportunity for the young craftsmen, offering them personalised support and high media visibility. A real platform for these young creators, the price helps to raise the profile of fine crafts and reveal new talents with the potential for a successful career. Many laureates have achieved national and international renown.

2024 edition

Discover the laureates of this 2024 edition. Each of them will receive professional support and a stand at one of the major international trade fairs organised by Ateliers d’Art de France: Révélations, Maison&Objets, Salon International du Patrimoine Culturel, etc.

Benoit Wintz is a blacksmith. Based in Alsace (Huttenheim), he brings lightness to the metal in his creations through simple, elegant design. A trainer at GRETA for the CAP in Art Ironwork, he has held this post since 2016. Currently self-employed, the blacksmith is developing a range of products using a variety of techniques.

Marion Mezenge is a turn-maker on metal and a lighting designer. Graduated from Ecole Boulle in 2013, Marion Mezenge founded her workshop in 2019. Her creations of interior objects in brass are all hand-signed and handmade in one-off pieces or small series in her workshop.

Yanis Miltgen is an embroiderer and textile designer. He designs and develops clothes which are as much art as they are haute couture. All with a real respect for tradition. He uses unconventional products in his designs and incorporates electric circuits or metal to structure his creations.

For more information: Ateliers d’Art

On February 23, 2017, the Rémy Cointreau Group added a new dynamic to its philanthropic policy by founding its eponymous Foundation.

7 years later, it has been given a makeover, confirming its commitment to its mission of supporting, enhancing and promoting the transmission of exceptional know-how, and has now become:

Fondation Rémy Cointreau pour la Transmission

In this way, it ensures coherence with the Group values that it embodies and defends.

This evolution goes hand in hand with an asserted raison d’être: Fondation Rémy Cointreau’s commitment is to promote artisans who embody and perpetuate French heritage by sharing their excellent knowledge and know-how. It encourages excellence in innovative and sustainable practices that favor local terroirs which strongly support and appreciate environmental issues.

Our Foundation is actively involved alongside the sector’s leading actors and stands at the heart of the craft industry, confirming that transmission is the guiding philosophy behind each of its actions.

As time gives its value to Cognac, the Foundation is enriched by the experience and expertise of its craftsmen. It stands as a true guardian of know-how, past, present, and future, and a long-term support for its current and upcoming laureates, faced with the many challenges of tomorrow.

Join us in this adventure and together we will continue to preserve the excellence of these know-how.

Thank you for your support and your shared passion for arts and crafts!

Before closing 2023, I would like to share with you who the Fondation Rémy Cointreau has been able to support this year:

– 16 new laureates

These laureates are exceptional craftspeople with a rare and precious know-how whom we want to promote and help to shine. We are so proud of supporting them, as they all share a deep desire to transmit their savoir-faire, to share their gestures, their tools, and their experience, and to communicate their passion for their craft to ensure its durability.

Craftsmen, like these, ensure the transmission of their skills by opening the way for apprentices and guiding their first steps. These are the reasons why we have been taking part, for many years, as jury members, to Awards such as:

• The “INMA’s Prix Avenir Métiers d’Art”
• The ”Prix du Savoir-Faire en Transmission des Ateliers de Paris”.
• Concours Ateliers d’Art de France – Création category

The Fondation is also delighted to be working alongside partners such as the Théâtre National de Strasbourg to promote theatre-related arts and crafts with student scenographers and costume designer, who pass on their skills to secondary school students, particularly in technical programs. We are also working with the Talents & Violon’celles association to restore a Bernardel cello dating from 1870, and with the Lycée Vauban in Brittany to make tools for DNMADE diploma metal students so that they can become the best goldsmiths, coppersmiths and bronziers, that we are proud to admire for the quality of their work.

Art and craft schools are also major economic players, contributing to the life of our regions. The values promoted by crafts are powerful assets for the attractiveness of our country’s regions.

So, if you’re not sure how to treat your loved ones at the start of the new year and at gift-giving time, don’t hesitate: OFFER A HANDCRAFT OBJECT!

Wishing you happy holidays and all our very best for 2024!

And we look forward to seeing you in 2024, we’ll be bringing you new discoveries from the Foundation…

Warmest wishes,

Caroline Martin-Rilhac, Delegate General of the Foundation

Fondation Rémy Cointreau is pleased to announce the creation of its YouTube channel, as part of its ongoing commitment to sharing knowledge and supporting the transmission of art and craft trades. The channel will introduce you to the unique know-how of its laureates.

Join our channel by clicking here

Ateliers d’Art de France

Ateliers d’Art de France trade union represents more than 6,000 craftspeople, crafts artists and art manufacturers, including 95 associations. Its main objective is to defend and promote art and craft professionals, while contributing to the economic development of their workshops. As defender of craftspeople, the syndicate initiates several initiatives to highlight their work, including the Ateliers d’Art de France competition.

Ateliers d’Art de France competition

Since 2012, the Ateliers d’Art de France competition has been dedicated to discover talent in France, highlighting the diversity, vitality, and creativity of the crafts associated to specific territories. It nominates and supports regional and national laureates in the two categories, celebrating craftsmanship excellence and artistic expression.

The Heritage category is dedicated to professionals who present an original or a restored work of conservation or creation. It requires a perfect knowledge of the material, as well as traditional skills to transform it.

The Creation category is addressed to professionals who present an original work of art, with or without a utilitarian purpose. It must be the result of a process of working with materials that requires the mastery of one or more skills based on an artistic approach.

The regional winners were chosen by a panel of experts reunited in July 2023. More than 120 winners have already benefited from this support, giving them visibility both in the French territory.

The two national winners were selected among the regional winners. Thanks to this pize they will have the opportunity to exhibit in major international trade fairs such as MAISON&OBJET and the Salon International du Patrimoine Culturel.

Discover the 2023 winners!

the “creation” category

Aurore Thuault is an embroiderer. She has a distinctive sculptural and geometric style. Her inspiration comes from both jewellery art and science, the result of her experience in renowned embroidery workshops. Her “Lunar 1 Gold” piece, part of the “Géométrie sacrée, suprême connexion” collection, won the Creation category prize.

the “heritage” category

François-Xavier Richard is a painter, sculptor, and engraver. Convinced of the value of creation in the field of wallpaper and strengthened by his experience, he combined his know-how and his talent as a visual artist and created the Atelier d’Offard in 1999. His work, “Les jardins de la clémence”, which covers the walls of the Grand Hôtel du Lion d’Or’s restaurant in Romorantin-Lanthenay, received the Heritage category award.

Fondation Rémy Cointreau has joined for the first time the Ateliers d’Art de France national competition. Caroline Martin-Rilhac, Delegate General had the pleasure of sitting on the jury for the Creation category in September 2023.

For the first time, Fondation Rémy Cointreau has organized Les Cafés Artisans. The aim of such a project is to highlight the craftsmen’s work through the Foundation’s laureates. The first edition took place on April 25, 2023, with Steven Leprizé! Caroline Martin-Rilhac, General Delegate of Fondation Rémy Cointreau, has hosted this rich and inspiring conference.

A craft, a passion

Steven Leprizé is a craftsman, fond of wood, design and research. He owes this passion to his family as the son of a farm machinery museum manager, the grandson of a carpenter and wheelwright, and the great-grandson of a carpenter and woodworker. The work of metal and wood is common in his environment. The transmission is there, wood inspires him, and he wishes to “use its movement”. Through this impulse, he has created ARCA Ebénisterie after his studies at Ecole Boulle (Paris). His passion has been growing day by day, and his pugnacity has been leading him to achieve excellence, with Mark Twain’s slogan, “They didn’t know it was impossible, so they did it”.

ARCA, Atelier de Recherche et Création en Ameublement (Furnishings Research and Creation Workshop)

This workshop is an entrepreneurial adventure in which teamwork is a priority. The materials are carefully used, and R&D is at the heart of the business, giving the craftsmen an infinite field of possibilities. As a true scientist, Steven Leprizé has created Airwood, which gives wood elastic properties. This invention has been the beginning of the creation of Woowood, enabling furniture’s drawers to be replaced by pockets of flexible wood. Last but not least, Bois Larmé, a metal marquetry technique, is also one of his inventions! Suitable to any surface, it illustrates the innovative possibilities offered by such know-how.

ARCA’s evolution based on solid values

Today, the studio has grown, and the company is independent. Steven Leprizé can now focus on new projects such as artistic and cultural residencies. Since his time at Villa Albertine, the studio has taken on a new international dimension, dedicating part of its activity to design with the creation of Studio Stl. Despite this evolution, our laureate is attached to the family values that ARCA embodies, and to the ambitious project it represents for the future of cabinetmaking. Far from being a company with a single face, the workshop is synonymous with teamwork, rigor, inventiveness, and pragmatism, making real the objects of the imagination.

The future of fine crafts

Loyal to his personal convictions, Steven Leprizé defends the importance of apprenticeships in workshops, and supports his students in their training and the protection of fine crafts. For him, arts and crafts have their place in tomorrow’s society, and are growing with the development of digital technology.

This belief of combining the traditional with the contemporary allows him to see himself into the transmission of his know-how. Steven Leprizé is already thinking about the next generation because he is attached to the future of his craft and his workshop. “I tell myself that going slowly and catalysing all this heritage and this team is a way of establishing a long-term position”.

Philippe Atienza, one of the 2020 Fondation Rémy Cointreau’s laureate, received the title of Maître d’Art in January 24! This reward reinforces the craftsman’s desire to transmit his exceptional know-how as a bespoke shoemaker.

The Title of Maître d’Art

This title was created in 1994 by the French Ministry of Culture and is awarded every 2 years. It is dedicated to craftswomen and craftsmen who practice an exceptional know-how and who wish to pass it on to a student. The objectives are multiple, but are taking place around two actions:

– To encourage the transmission of a know-how within the pair,

– To support the students’ project and to play an accelerating role in their professional career.

Since its creation, 149 craftsmen and craftswomen have received the Title of Maître d’Art. Today, this program goes far beyond as it involves a 3-year support to ensure the future of each project. The objective of this new program aims to ensure the transmission of knowledge within the workshops and to ensure the fulfilment of the students.

Philippe Atienza, a bespoke shoemaker

Philippe Atienza is one of Meilleur Ouvrier de France and is now a Maître d’Art. He is passionate about his know-how he acquired after training with Compagnons du Devoir. This expert in the field of women’s and men’s made-to-measure footwear opened his own workshop in 2016 with Laura Puntillo, after working at John Lobb workshop and Maison Massaro.

The craftsman has been welcoming apprentices and has been giving classes to students in his workshop since its opening. Today, thanks to the title of Maître d’Art/Elève, he will be able to continue to train Laura Puntillo in order to make his craft durable.

In fact, seven years of collaboration are not enough to transmit a know-how. Even if their routine has changed, Philippe Atienza being in Provence and Laura Puntillo in Paris in their original workshop, the transmission remains. In fact, the wish of the Master is that his student becomes “Goldsmith in boot making” and the first woman practicing the know-how of bespoke shoemaker.

Main source : https://www.maitredart.fr/

© MC-Mehrak Habibi

Villa Albertine, a cultural link between France and the United States

Villa Albertine is an artists residency created in 2021. It represents a strong link between France and the United States. In Fact, it welcomes every year in the United States, French professionals from the creation sector. This place encourages the artists to be aware of the world’s changes. Cinema, digital creation, audio-visual and performing arts stand with visual arts, design and crafts, but also comic books, literature, music and museums.

All these specialties are gathered at the Villa without ever obstructing each other. In fact, this residency does not take place in a specific place. Residents settle in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco or Washington DC. They develop their project for one or several months. This is the case for two of Fondation Rémy Cointreau’s laureates who have or will join this program.

Two Fondation Rémy Cointreau’s laureates in New York

Steven Leprizé is a 2021-2022 resident of Villa Albertine. His project is truly rooted in the transmission of his know-how and more particularly his research around wood, which comes to life in ARCA that has been evolving since its creation in 2009. This residency is an opportunity for the craftsman to showcase his know-how and expertise in the United States, and in a way, to showcase French woodworking crafts through his journey and his aspirations for transmission.

Eve George will begin her residency in February 2023. Her project at Villa Albertine is the beginning of the creation of her future collection entitled Brume, which will be made up of lighting and tableware, and whose design is an extension of the theme of her last collection, Cime. This time, water will be its main source of inspiration and will be confronted with the urban world. A real impactful and committed reflection, which will question the place and influence of water in our daily lives.

The year 2022 will soon come to an end! But not for the Eaux de Vies project initiated by Eve George, laureate of Fondation Rémy Cointreau, and Harmonie Begon. This project was born out of a deep desire to federate all glass specialists in France. Today, it is becoming more tangible.

Eaux de Vies, a project with common ambitions

This projet has been created after a meeting at Académie des Savoir-faire 2022 around the theme of glass. Two passionate, committed designers have joined their forces to face the problems related to their profession. Their objective is also to perpetuate their know-how with innovation and creativity.

Harmonie Begon is a designer and Eve George, a designer and a glassblower. Both have seized the context of 2022 proclaimed by the UN as the year of glass, to initiate a great mediation around this material. The idea is multiple. It takes into account the importance of the status of an object, between serial object or unique object; the importance of the creative process between design and realization and therefore the place of the designer and the craftsma in this process; and finally, a great mediation around the sector. Thus, the Eaux de Vies project takes shape “in order to allow all glassmakers to sign a collective work in a historical and institutional context”.

The project

Eaux de Vies is a common glass service created by all professionals in the sector in France, without distinction of status. Thus, each craftsman specialised in glass can create an object. The realisation must follow specifications: to make a glass signed with the first name and surname, to realize with colorless glass or crystal, with a texture of “venitian ribs”. This texture will create a link between each piece of the service.

Following the collect, this historical service named Eaux de Vies will be exhibited at the MusVerre (Sars Poteries, 59). The exhibition will take place from December 1, 2022 to January 28, 2023.

To learn more, discover the press kit here.

Listing pictures : left ©Fondation Rémy Cointreau / Marc-Antoine Mouterde – right ©François Golfier / Atelier George