Présentation of Arts and Crafts professions
The Arts and Crafts are a keystone for intangible French cultural heritage.
With as many as 217 trades listed in the by-law of 12th December 2003 encompassing 19 sectors.
Representing over 38,000 companies, employing almost 100,000 people with turnover of 8 billion euros in 2006 and a total export turnover of 637,000,000 euros, the Arts and Crafts play an important role in the French economy.
3 Criteria
The term 'Arts and Crafts' presupposes the combination of at least three criteria:- A trade in terms of a technique, or complex craftsmanship skills that often take a long time to acquire, founded on the transformation of material. These skills are applied in activities in the domain of creation of objects, their restoration as well as 'traditional' trades.
- Production of unique pieces , or limited series, of an artistic nature. This is implied by the terminology itself (métier d’art), although “art” can also be interpreted as expertise: the artisan is first and foremost an artist.
- An Arts and Crafts professional is "a professional whose trade necessitates the mastery of skills, techniques and traditional tools as well as innovation in the aim of creating, transforming, restoring or preserving, alone or with a team of assistants, works and objects produced in unique pieces or in limited series."
