Chanel Unveils Cool New Paris Headquarters for its Artisans

Chanel’s latest offering strikes familiar chords: creative, innovative, sexy. But this is no little black dress. Rather, the building project underway in Paris’ 19th arrondissement is the culmination of the company’s commitment to house all its Métiers d’Art under one roof — 600 artisans in total.

Named Le 19M, the M represents Mains (Hands), Mode (Fashion) and Métier (Craftsmanship), and 19, the arrondissement where is it located. The building will be a home for the makers whose work is essential to the construction and spirit of the brand, including embroiderer Lesage, shoemaker Massaro, hatter and milliner Maison Michel, feather and flower expert Lemarié, pleater Lognon, grand flou atelier Paloma and goldsmith Goossens.

Chanel celebrates these couture artisans who support the brand’s noteworthy attention to detail at the annual Métiers d’Art show which unveils a special new collection each December in a new location, including shows in Dallas and Dubai.

Designed by Rudy Ricciotti, winner of France’s Grand Prix National de l’architecture, Ricciotti has been tasked with creative a functional work of art evoking the classic edge that the brand has stood for all thees years.

The building itself will be as innovative as the creators it houses with full environmental considerations promoting energy efficiency and biodiversity.

The brand commissioned artist Case Maclaim to install a series of murals around the construction site of the building as a way of kicking off the creativity and introducing itself to the neighborhood.

This gathering of these crucial ateliers to the fashion house has been coming since the original creation of the group, Chanels’ parraffection division, a subsidiary of the fashion house created to preserve the artisanal craft and manufacturing capabilities of these workshops. And what better way for the house to continue to preserve their unique arsenal of embellished talents and to further create innovation and collaboration to push their brand forward than to but all of them into one creative center.

Chanel has acquired more than 30 maisons d’art and manufactures in an effort to keep the artistry and skills alive, so necessary for the couture creations of Chanel and other couture houses.

Chanel isn’t the first major French fashion giant to do a similar celebration of their Métiers d’Art, Hermes, Gucci and LVHM all have similar hubs to preserve and protect their unique creators including leather aficionados and embellishment experts to assist in the perfection of their products.