Cultural heritage fair: a showcase to promote artistic crafts

The transmission ? It’s in our DNA! So says Yann de Carné, president of GMH, the group of companies working on historic monuments. Transmission is in fact the theme this year of the International Cultural Heritage Exhibition, an unmissable event for professionals and the general public, at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris.

“We are the smugglers of the monuments that we restore,” continues Yann de Carné, “because we pass on the ancestral know-how which enabled their construction and is essential to maintaining them in good condition. »

The GMH has therefore been present at the show since the beginning, on its own stand, but also through the presence of numerous roofing companies, stone cutting, ironworks, etc. A ceremony for awarding professional certificates to young apprentices even takes place there. “It’s a showcase to promote our professions,” he emphasizes. In fact, visitors love, along the paths, watching companions demonstrate to them the size of structural pieces or listening to them explain the specificities of the art of stained glass. “They want to understand our work,” adds Marie-Hélène Poisson. This public appetite pushed me to offer introductory and specialization courses all year round. » This artistic cabinetmaker is the owner of the only workshop in France which is dedicated solely to the restoration of “Boulle-type” marquetry. A complex technique imagined in the 18th century by André-Charles Boulle, which mixes brass and tortoiseshell with marquetry: “The transmission of our gestures, our cutting and engraving techniques is vital! »

Desire for retraining

The daughter and granddaughter of cabinetmakers herself, Marie-Hélène Poisson is lucky that her daughter, after trying other studies, follows in her footsteps. Yann de Carné, like her, notes that apprentices today often have this “retrained” profile: “They are good recruits,” he explains, “because they are motivated. They learned patience and their passion passed the test of maturity. » There is no doubt that the aisles of the Heritage Fair will be filled with both heritage lovers who come for the beauty of the gestures and young adults in search of a profession that has meaning, in the hands and in the mind .