The second edition of the Maestri d’Eccellenza Award is underway to recognize the artisanal value of Made in Italy products by Métiers d’Excellence LVMH in collaboration with Loro Piana, Confartigianato Imprese, and Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana

In line with the Group’s desire to continue to support Italian artisan excellence and Made in Italy products, Métiers d’Excellence LVMH, in partnership this year with its Maison Loro Piana, announces the launch of the second edition of the Maestri d’Exccellenza Award, an award co-created in collaboration with Confartigianato Imprese and Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana. It is open for Italien craftsmen and craftswomen to apply from Wednesday 21 February until Wednesday 15 May on the website youandme.lvmh.it/premio-maestri-deccellenza, the date after which the 9 finalist artisans will be selected, 3 for each category.

The LVMH Métiers d’Excellence “Maestri d’Eccellenza” Award is part of the series of initiatives organized by the LVMH Group and strongly promoted by Chantal Gaemperle, Group Executive Vice President Human Resources and Synergies LVMH, to encourage the development and safeguarding of Italian savoir-faire, concretely represented by more than 7,000 artisans operating in the area.

“We are happy to continue this path started last year to support and safeguard savoir-faire in Italy. On behalf of the Group, we are aware of how unique Italian know-how and local skills are, and how these are unfortunately gradually disappearing. With the Maestri d’Eccellenza Award we want to give a voice to all those artisans who carry out their craft with passion every day,” says Alexandre Boquel, Director of LVMH Métiers d’Excellence.

As with the first edition, the three categories of the Maestri d’Eccellenza Award try to include and reward as many types of artisans as possible:

• Master Craftsman of Excellence: dedicated to expert craftsmen who have distinguished themselves for the quality of their projects, for their professional path, for the development strategy and the transmission of savoir-faire linked to Italian tradition and heritage. This award is aimed at professionals and companies with at least 5 years of experience behind them.
• Emerging Master Craftsman of Excellence: dedicated to emerging talents engaged in craftsmanship and with a promising project, created at least in the 5 years prior to registration.
• Master of Innovation of Excellence: dedicated to companies and professionals who have distinguished themselves for their ability to innovate, preserving historical knowledge and skills and reinterpreting them in a modern key.

Among the novelties of this second edition, the most important is the opening of applications to artisans belonging to the furniture sector and furnishing accessories, as well as the choice of the partner Maison Loro Piana, which best represents Italian excellence.

“We recognize our responsibility to perpetuate craftmanship for future generations. We must pass on to them not only technical skills, but also a respect for tradition, a passion for excellence and innovation. Only in this way we can ensure that the heritage of Italian craftsmanship continues to flourish into the future. Preserving and promoting know-how is at the heart of Loro Piana’s philosophy. We are very proud to be a partner of this prize, which celebrates and supports Italian craftsmanship.” declared Damien Bertrand, Loro Piana CEO

Registrations will be open from 21 February to 15 May 2024 on the website youandme.lvmh.it/premio-maestri-deccellenza. The competition is accessible to artisans, professionals and companies created at least 12 months before participation; everyone can apply to one category only.

A pre-jury, made up of representatives of the four partners, will identify the 9 finalists – 3 per category. From this selection, an exceptional jury will decide the winner for each category. This year the jury will be composed as follows:

• Fabrizio Plessi (artist – President of the jury)
• Toni Belloni (Group Managing Director LVMH)
• Chantal Gaemperle (Group Executive Vice President Human Resources and Synergies LVMH)
• Alexandre Boquel (Director of ME LVMH)
• Marco Granelli (President of Confartigianato Imprese)
• Moreno Vignolini (President of Confartigianato Moda)
• Carlo Capasa (President of CNMI)
• Damien Bertrand (CEO Loro Piana)
• Eric Darrieus (COO Loro Piana)
• Francesco Pergamo (B. U. Interiors Director Loro Piana)
• Lucia De Cet (Virtuoso 2023 Loro Piana)
• Stefania Lazzaroni (General Director of Altagamma)
• Francesca Ragazzi (Head of Editorial Content Vogue Italia)

For this second edition, Fabrizio Plessi has been named President of the Jury. He is an international renown artist. At the end of the Sixties, he began his artistic career that has water and fire as its central themes, present in his installations, films and videotapes.

The winners of the three categories will be awarded during an event dedicated to them during the Milan Fashion Week in September 2024, as happened on 20 September 2023 where, in the Sala delle Cariatidi of Palazzo Reale, products of the 9 finalists were exhibited and the winners of each category of the first edition of the Maestri d’Eccellenza Award were announced.

This year each of the winner will be granted :

• €10,000 to reinvest in their business;
• Up to 1 year of mentoring with professionals belonging to the Maison Loro Piana, on topics and with a timing to be agreed with the Maison.
• Dedicated visits to the Maison Loro Piana factories, times and methods to be agreed with the Maison, with the aim of learning more about the production processes and the savoir-faire of the artisans and technicians involved, and the possibility of evaluating possible collaborations between the Maison and the winning artisans.

Métiers d’Excellence LVMH

 The LVMH Métiers d’Excellence project was born in 2014 in France and, to date, is also present in Italy, Switzerland, Spain, the United States, Japan, Germany and China. The Professions of Excellence are all those professions linked to the areas of Creation, Craftsmanship and Customer Experience that require unique savoir-faire; these jobs, within the Maisons of the LVMH Group, are practiced by more than 100,000 collaborators around the world. The mission of the Métiers d’Excellence project is threefold:

• TRANSMIT skills, to guarantee a future for these professions and recruit the best talent.
• VALUE and continue to train the talents within our Maisons.
• REVEAL the extraordinary heritage of excellent savoir-faire that makes LVMH a unique group in the world, making our commitment known to the general public.

Italy is home to 6 of the more than 75 Maisons of the Group (Bulgari, Acqua di Parma, Loro Piana, Fendi, Pucci and Cova) with a significant economic footprint on the territory:

• 13,300 employees (of which 7,000 engaged in the professions of excellence)
• 35 manufactures
• 258 boutiques
• A network of 5,000 suppliers and subcontractors, representing an industry of over 200,000 people