{"id":648473,"date":"2026-10-16T18:44:20","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T18:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/648473\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T18:44:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T18:44:20","slug":"lvmh-hosts-sixth-edition-of-les-journees-particulieres-open-doors-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/648473\/","title":{"rendered":"LVMH Hosts Sixth Edition of Les Journ\u00e9es Particuli\u00e8res Open-Doors Event"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tPARIS \u2014 After launch events in Paris and Shanghai, LVMH Mo\u00ebt Hennessy Louis Vuitton<\/a> on Friday kicked off the sixth edition of its Les Journ\u00e9es Particuli\u00e8res open-doors event.<\/p>\n

\n\tReturning after a four-year hiatus, it welcomed members of the public to 71 locations worldwide over three days, beginning with the LVMH Virtuosos ceremony at La Samaritaine department store in Paris on Thursday night, which honored artisans for excellence in their craft.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the sprawling launch party hosted by Antoine Arnault<\/a>, director of image and environment at LVMH, guests lined up to get personalized Louis Vuitton<\/a> luggage tags, swill Hennessy cognac or sample a chunk of a Cova panettone as big as a footstool.<\/p>\n

\n\tPerhaps inspired by the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, of which LVMH was a major sponsor, Arnault had the 2026 class of LVMH Virtuosos follow flag-bearers through the crowded soiree, the guests parting and applauding as the 69 artisans passed clutching a jewelry box containing a special pin designed by Maison Fred.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt a prelaunch dinner in Paris, Arnault acknowledged the event comes at a challenging time for luxury goods. Shares in LVMH are down more than 40 percent so far this year, causing the group to lose its crown as France\u2019s most valuable company to L\u2019Or\u00e9al.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cA great deal has changed since the first edition. The group has grown enormously, and at times that growth was so rapid that we had to ask ourselves whether we were losing sight of our core values,\u201d Arnault said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTo be honest, we had not planned to hold the event this year. We intended to stage it next year. It is extremely time-consuming, requires a great deal of energy, and is also very costly,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Antoine<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAntoine Arnault<\/a> at a press conference in July.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDorian Prost\/Courtesy of LVMH<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBut our artisans let us know, through the heads of the workshops, industrial directors and sometimes even CEOs, that they felt it was important to hold these special days as soon as possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tLVMH has narrowed down the list of participating houses, and therefore does not expect to beat the attendance record <\/a>of 200,000 visitors for the previous edition. Instead it wanted to emphasize the human dimension of its business.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn the age of artificial intelligence, we felt there was no better time to come back down to earth and meet the men and women who present their know-how \u2014 people who do not need a screen to demonstrate what they do, but can explain directly to visitors, adults and children alike, how much pride they take in their work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\t\tLabor of Love\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe LVMH Virtuosos form a community, acting as ambassadors for their respective maisons, participating in specialized development masterclasses and taking an active role in mentoring. Several of them were on hand to greet visitors at the open-day events.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring a preview visit to Celine<\/a>, which opened its ready-to-wear workshop to the public for the first time, Alla, a prototype machinist specializing in flou, was making a model of a whorled rose detail on a dress.<\/p>\n

\n\tPart of the Virtuoso class of 2023, she recently took part in a visit to the Ruinart Champagne cellars in Reims with fellow honorees.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt broadens your horizons,\u201d she said. \u201cOur job is demanding, but when you see high-end hospitality, it goes above and beyond even what we do, because there is so much attention to detail.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJudging from the hundreds of markings on the paper pattern she was preparing for her colleagues in the sewing department, her job is equally exacting.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlla has worked under three successive creative directors at Celine<\/a>, and is now one of 50 people making runway prototypes and custom VIP orders for Michael Rider and his design team.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"The<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe Celine ready-to-wear workshop in Paris. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFran\u00e7ois Halard\/Courtesy of Celine<\/p>\n

\n\tUnlike his predecessors, Rider works from the Paris studio full time. Earlier in the week, he joined the atelier team to share a glass of Champagne while they watched the brand\u2019s spring 2027 runway show<\/a> on a giant screen.<\/p>\n

\n\tSplit into tailoring and flou sections, the workshop sits under a vast glass skylight at the heart of the historic H\u00f4tel Colbert de Torcy, the 17th-century mansion where Celine established its headquarters in 2014.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a fabulous place to work. I don\u2019t think there are a lot of workshops like ours,\u201d said Armelle, flou studio manager and patternmaker, who has been there for 15 years. \u201cYesterday, one of our colleagues retired after 25 years. When you find a house you love, you tend to stay there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tArts and Crafts\t<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the nearby Louis Vuitton leather goods prototype workshop on Rue du Louvre, careers similarly run in decades.<\/p>\n

\n\tYannick, the workshop manager, has 20 years of experience at LVMH, working in leather goods workshops in France and Italy. He oversees a team of 34 patternmaker-prototypists tasked with bringing designers\u2019 ideas to life.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOur advantage is being so close to our creative teams,\u201d he said, noting that Vuitton\u2019s headquarters are just down the road. \u201cThat\u2019s rare, because at other houses, design is based in Paris, while the patternmaking and prototyping workshops are scattered around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOnce they receive a sketch or brief from a designer, the artisans draw 3D geometric patterns, determining how the pieces of leather will fit together. Using canvas or a special material made of leather offcuts, they make a rough prototype. Once this is validated, the bag is produced in its finished form.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Inside<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tInside the Louis Vuitton leather goods prototype workshop in Paris.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Louis Vuitton<\/p>\n

\n\tAd\u00e8le, who joined the team 12 years ago, said she was keen to explain her little-known profession to members of the public. \u201cIt\u2019s a job that requires creativity, sensitivity and technical skills. Creating templates is like drafting patterns for a garment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou have to love fashion \u2014 and to have the freedom to focus on measurements, you need to be completely at ease with sewing machines and understand a leather worker\u2019s craft. Leather working is not something you can learn in two years. To become a good leather worker, you need at least five years, if not 10,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn recent years, Vuitton has introduced more soft bag styles and new materials, including a jacquard version of its signature Monogram canvas, and Silk Tech, a twill-woven hybrid of silk and reclaimed nylon<\/a>. This forces the teams to permanently adapt their methods.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat\u2019s cool about Louis Vuitton is that we\u2019re really innovative, and sometimes we don\u2019t know how new materials will behave. That\u2019s part of the challenge, and it guarantees I never get bored,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\t\tMaking Memories\t<\/p>\n

\n\tFor the teams at Hakuba, the two-Michelin-starred restaurant at the Cheval Blanc hotel, Les Journ\u00e9es Particul\u00e8res offers a rare opportunity to meet fans of Japanese cuisine who don\u2019t have access to its 420-euro multicourse omakase meal.<\/p>\n

\n\tVisitors were offered a series of three 15-minute workshops around tea, futomaki and mochi.<\/p>\n

\n\tPastry chef Maxime Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric, who works alongside sushi master Takuya Watanabe and chef Arnaud Donckele, has developed a signature ultra-thin mochi shell which melds Japanese tradition and French pastry craftsmanship.<\/p>\n

\n\tSacha Vadier, assistant executive pastry chef at Cheval Blanc, said guests would be tasting the rhubarb mochi, a trompe-l\u2019oeil sushi topped with slices of poached rhubarb.<\/p>\n

\n\tVadier, who is also an LVMH Virtuoso, said he loves sharing his universe and getting a peek at other forms of skilled craftsmanship.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Hakuba<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tMaxime Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric, Takuya Watanabe and Arnaud Donckele.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCaroline Dutrey\/Courtesy Photo<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m passionate about watchmaking, so whenever I meet a watchmaker, I can\u2019t help comparing notes. For several years, we\u2019ve been making a lot of chocolate pieces with working gears, so there are things that fascinate them too,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat is so amazing about the Journ\u00e9es Particuli\u00e8res is that visitors can move from one place to another, discovering crafts that are part of France\u2019s heritage and are practiced by people who are among the very best in their field,\u201d Vadier said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIf you visit a perfumer, he\u2019s making some of the finest perfumes in the world. If you visit a restaurant, it\u2019s one of the best restaurants in the world. It\u2019s extraordinary to give people the opportunity to experience something truly remarkable, even if only for a short time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m very proud that our team and our house can take part. We\u2019re delighted, and we know these experiences will stay with us forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u2014 With contributions from Miles Socha<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARIS \u2014 After launch events in Paris and Shanghai, LVMH Mo\u00ebt Hennessy Louis Vuitton on Friday kicked off…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":648474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[291682,114,136015,85,46,29169,97898],"class_list":["post-648473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-antoine-arnault","tag-business","tag-celine","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-louis-vuitton","tag-lvmh-mou00ebt-hennessy-louis-vuitton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}