According to a report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published ahead of the 53rd edition of the World Economic Forum in Davos, which was held in Switzerland from January 15 to 19, artificial intelligence (AI) will have consequences for 60 % of jobs in so-called “advanced” economies.
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If this figure on the global labor market seems to worry heads of state and big bosses in the chic resort of the Swiss Alps, everything is not negative, assured Kristalina Georgieva, the general director of the IMF: “AI can be scary, but it can also be a huge opportunity for everyone.”
Because if technology arouses distrust, particularly through the replacement of certain professional branches, a sense of tech also gives rise to new professions.
And above all new vocations.
“The Covid crisis has come to question the relationship we have with objects by triggering a desire to consume better, with a concern for sustainability and ethics as well,” explains Alexandre Boquel, director of professions of excellence at LVMH.
And it is therefore quite natural that it has given a new nobility to craft professions, which were often relegated to the background.”
Craftsman-engineers
In parallel with this consideration of the consumer in the value chain, many people have returned to handicraft professions in recent years, with the idea of making them grow differently, sustainably, through innovation.
“Today, the computer is as much a tool as a crimping pliers,” explains Mathieu Bassée, artistic director of Studio MTX, the department dedicated to the architecture of the haute couture embroiderer Montex, certified craftsmanship of the house Chanel.
At MTX, architectural embroidery is done, whatever happens, using digital tools.
When works as monumental as a screen seven meters high and several tens of meters long (i.e. 300 square meters of embroidery) are produced entirely by hand to adorn the space of a liner, it is unthinkable not to not present to clients the project modeled in 3D using digital technology.”
In 2024, with unlimited possibilities, tech would be more than ever at the service of craftsmanship.
It is important to remember the definition of craftsmanship.
According to Alexandre Boquel: “It is the addition of two skills: on the one hand, a creative and sensitive mind, or everything that will bring an extra soul to objects;
on the other, technicality and everything that adds up at the technological level, with the virtuosity of the gesture, its learning and its mastery.
It’s really the addition of these two that creates all these creative and technical professions, these skills that require qualities of rigor, attention to detail, organization, curiosity and patience.”
Embroidery called Le Château des Dames, Métiers d’art 2020-2021, Chanel.
Instagram @ateliermontex
It’s a fact, manual professions have always been linked to new technologies.
We must not forget that craftsmen did not wait for machines to invent their own tools.
“In workshops, artisans have always shaped and put their own instruments into their hands,” attests Mathieu Bassée.
We call it the necessity of doing.
Nowadays, 3D modelers create their design and modeling tools in their software.
They don't come with boxwood handles and a steel tip, but they are indeed work tools.
But be careful… this absolutely does not call into question the sacred hand.
It is because they are experts that the fingers of the craftsman will succeed in getting as close as possible to what digital technology can do.”
Since the dawn of time, craftsmen have worn the hats of engineer and maker, thinking heads to imagine and design the perfect object.
“The scholars of the Renaissance, like Leonardo da Vinci, defined themselves as artist-craftsman-engineer,” confirms Alexandre Boquel.
And Le Corbusier even said: “Tradition is the uninterrupted chain of all innovations.”
Understand: what we invent today is the crafts of tomorrow.”
Technological revolutions
The biggest challenge of crafting?
Seduce young people.
But for this, it is necessary to break all their prejudices and other preconceived ideas.
“As soon as we talk to them about these professions, they immediately have in mind an image of the past, of ancestral know-how passed down from generation to generation and gestures fossilized in practice,” analyzes Alexandre Boquel.
Generation Z must understand that creating tomorrow is the heart of these professions.
At LVMH, each house has its own innovation unit.
For example, in addition to being associated with a foundry, the watchmaker Hublot has its metallurgy and materials laboratory.
This research and development unit has notably made it possible to achieve Magic Gold, the first scratch-resistant gold in the world.”
For jewelry, we are now able, thanks to assisted design programs, to create jewelry digitally.
Some parts are even entirely designed using 3D printing.
When it comes to embroidery, the emblem of skilled trades and above all one of the oldest heritage of humanity, innovation is also omnipresent.
Polyester sequins, glass beads, synthetic or natural fabrics... Every year, tens of thousands of references are used in the workshops of artisan embroiderers.
Wall light prototype at Paris Design Week 2023 at Féau Boiseries.
Studio MTX
The problem ?
Today, we can no longer work with nearly 90% of the elements used in the past... Certain forms of plastic are now banned, toxic materials are also eradicated... Health rules are increasingly strict and impose specifications very rigorous.
“If some creators see it as a constraint, others use it to increasingly stimulate their creativity, and therefore reinvent something new,” continues Alexandre Boquel.
This is also how 3D printers were introduced into the world of embroidery.
Thanks to these machines, specific shapes can be created on demand with new materials, such as corn composite beads.
We also integrated computer placement.
Before, all the patterns were drawn by hand on the clothes, for some with a painful and redundant gesture.
If the work of the craftsman is made easier and relieved here, it also allows him to free up time to develop his activities or to work on other platforms.
Imagine the world of tomorrow
If the sector stands out for its creativity, it does not forget to shine through its dynamism.
Proof: with more than 60,000 companies and 150,000 professionals, the hand trades play a major role in the French economy.
Pluckers, embroiderers, goldsmiths, bootmakers, pattern makers, milliners, glove makers, but also watchmakers, ceramists, stonecutters, jewelers, diamond dealers, carpenters or cabinetmakers… In 2019, the artistic professions (French law lists two hundred and four twenty-one) generated a turnover of 19 billion euros, including 8 billion from exports.
The sector represents a true living heritage, reflecting the richness and diversity of French know-how.
Creation of the Montex workshop for Collection Latil.
Instagram @ateliermontex
But the real problem is the absence of a clear structure as a sector, which therefore limits its visibility and recognition.
The government has therefore recently put in place a new national strategy in its favor.
The initiative, supported by the Ministries of Culture and Commerce, Crafts and Tourism, aims to strengthen its support for the sector (340 million euros will be devoted by the State to artistic crafts for the period 2023-2025) through concrete measures, such as the promotion of artistic professions among young people, training and transmission, anchoring in the heart of the territories or even support for research, innovation and creation.
Always with the same objective: imagine the world of tomorrow.