A living Europe of crafts - Lyne Cohen-Solal, President of the National Institute of Crafts

INMA Newsletter, France, June 4, 2019

On both sides of the European continent, exceptional craftsmen transform matter, work with passion and contribute with their hands to Europe’s living heritage. If the Europe of crafts has several faces and speaks several languages, it carries common values: transmission, sustainability, creativity and above all the human. Crafts are more than ever a living language of culture, and in particular of a historical cultural base specific to the old continent.

This Europe of crafts, aware of this strength, is also showing a desire to structure itself: more and more European events bring together the best and the diversity of craftsmen, countries and regions. unite, exchange, share, listen and transmit, inspire. In networks, in the form of fairs, exhibitions, open houses, conferences… The institutions and professionals of the sector form a dynamic of mutual enrichment, which must today be even better supported by the European authorities.

The Institut National des Métiers d’Art has been committed for years through multiple initiatives for better recognition of the sector at European level. After mobilizing 18 countries for the last edition of the JEMA, INMA signed the Crafting Europe Manifesto, initiated by the World Crafts Council Europe, and is taking part in its General Assembly in early June in Georgia.

The Masters of Art, a French cultural exception that enlightens Europe by focusing on transmission and innovation, also share their exceptional work with the world. Like the Art Master Fanny Boucher, heliograver. She has just published with Editions des Cendres La lumière en patrimoine produced with the support of INMA and the Bettencourt-Schueller Foundation. She, who has been engraving images for centuries, wanted to put down on paper her techniques, her discoveries and a certain philosophy of which she is one of the last guardians in the world. Translated into English to cross borders, this beautiful and precious work is a story of photogravure, but also and above all of passion and transmission.

Still in France, crafts are taking shape following the fire at Notre-Dame, an emblematic monument of French and European heritage and know-how. Like stonemasons, roofers, stained glass artists, watchmakers are mobilizing. They want to be able to rebuild the cathedral clock and introduce the general public to this guardian of time, which has been running continuously since 1867. And for the next clock to tick off its seconds for centuries, we will need young generations. Many of them arrive to discover training in these professions, the essential importance of which the general public understands for the transmission of our heritage, our culture and therefore our influence.

At the start of summer, let’s dare to cross borders and share, with our European or more distant neighbours, the respect and passion for crafts of which France must be proud.

Lyne Cohen-Solal
President of the National Institute of Crafts, France

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