LVMH and ELLE unveil the five winners of the third edition of the French Prix des Artisanes

The winners of the Prix des Artisanes 2023 are:

Cécile Feilchenfeldt (Fashion), Textile designer

After taking her A-levels in Munich (she grew up in Germany), Cécile Feilchenfeldt left to study in her native Switzerland, at the School of Applied Arts in Zurich. After a year of preparatory classes, she decided to devote herself entirely to textile design.

Cécile Feilchenfeldt trained in weaving, printing and knitting: not choosing a specialty was actually very enriching and inspiring for her work as an artisan in knitwear. In fact, all textile techniques have points in common, and influence each other.

To preserve her freedom of creation and imagination, and because she had dreamt of it, our craftswoman founded her own company: CECILE FEILCHENFELDT KNITWEARSTUDIO, in Paris.

Marine Billet (Jewellery and Watchmaking), Craftswoman jeweler

Marine Billet is passionate about architecture, both for its artistic and technical qualities. Trained as an architect, she began a career change as a jeweler in 2016 to be able to work with her hands, and became a model maker for haute-couture houses such as Schiaparelli. Her years of experience have enabled her to hone her favorite skills, such as molding, impressions and an ancestral technique: lost-wax casting. Her research focuses on the ordinary, which she seeks to sublimate, to give everyday objects a touch of surprise and enchantment.

The jeweler uses the imprint technique, which enables her to retain the passage of time and, as she puts it, “freeze evanescence”. In 2021, Marine Billet created the INCARNEM brand of jewelry and objects, bespoke pieces that can be adorned like a second skin, as seen on Bella Hadid at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021.

Solenne Jolivet (Design and Tableware), Artist Designer

In her studio in Aubervilliers, where she lives, Solenne Jolivet has been developing a textile practice combining art and craft for the last 6 years, intended for interior architecture projects and the art market.

Her work straddles the border between painting, drawing and sculpture: she uses thread as a pigment, seeking to re-interrogate the notion of the textile surface and to create a material that is not derived from a known technique, tool or machine. A lover of other materials as well as other arts and crafts, Solenne Jolivet has developed thread marquetry, enabling her to evoke wood, stone, marble, and iron through textile work, creating real trompe l’œil.

Leslie Villiaume (Preservation of the French Heritage) Watchmaker

Fascinated by mechanics and their history from a very early age, Leslie Villiaume began by studying science: degrees in mathematics and two diplomas in astrophysics…before completing a thesis about the history of technology, which is due to be defended in early 2024. At the same time as these theoretical studies, Leslie Villiaume was keen to understand mechanics by hand, and took a practical course in watchmaking.

Today, Leslie Villiaume works as a master craftsman of art (maître artisan d’art): her activities are divided between heritage restoration, watch design and manufacture, and transmission. Her dual training and her approach, which combines the history of techniques with watchmaking restoration and creation, have been widely acclaimed. She also has the honor of being the first woman to maintain the clocks at the Château de Versailles.

Marie-Françoise Devichi (Winemaking), Winemaker

Born in 1982, Marie-Françoise Devichi grew up on her parents’ wine estate in the heart of the Patrimonio appellation in Haute-Corse. She was not destined to become a winegrower, as she had started studying medicine in Marseille. But when her mother died suddenly in 2002, the young woman returned to the estate to help her father.

She decided to make her own wine, reviving her great-uncle’s recipe for aged Muscat, creating her own cuvées and doubling the size of the estate… In 2012, Marie-Françoise Devichi officially took over the running of the estate. Since last May, she has been President of the Patrimonio PDO Winegrowers’ Association. She is also the first woman to have been elected to this position since the creation of the appellation in 1968.

This year, the Group and the magazines ELLE, ELLE Décoration and ELLE à Table awarded a special mention to the team in charge of preserving and restoring Agence France-Presse’s photographic archives, made up entirely of women. This silver-based collection contains 6 million iconic photos that have left their mark on French history, from the Paris Commune in 1871 to the recent fire at Notre-Dame, not forgetting the Great War, the Liberation of Paris, the first vote by French women, Jean-Paul Belmondo’s winning smile and the modernity of Josephine Baker.

“We were impressed by the number and quality of the applications received for this third edition of the Prix des Artisanes. Highlighting the careers of inspiring women who are committed to preserving their skills helps to raise awareness on professions that are not always well known. This is in line with the objectives of our “Métiers d’Excellence” initiatives, which aim to create vocations and pass on skills from one generation to the next. Also, we support the career development of our female employees and craftswomen within our Group through a proactive policy and our EllesVMH program, an international network of women that I created over fifteen years ago.” Chantal Gaemperle, EVP, Human Resources and Synergies, LVMH

“I’m proud to witness the growth of this prize, proof of the extraordinary ecosystem of female talents that make French craftsmanship shine. We share with the prize-winners the same taste for excellence and creativity, essential values for the LVMH group and its Maisons, whose vocation is all about the Art of Crafting Dreams, through its exceptional products and experiences.” Antoine Arnault, Image & Environment, LVMH