From October 2 to 5, 2025, the Comité Colbert, an association promoting French luxury goods, will host Les Deux Mains du Luxe, its traveling exhibition created in 2022 and dedicated to showcasing the sector’s talented artisans, under the glass roof of the Grand Palais. From Cartier to Van Cleef & Arpels, around thirty prestigious Houses will be present.
In early October, the Deux Mains du Luxe will take over the nave of the Grand Palais. This means a departure from Station F, the usual venue for the Paris leg of this gathering of talent dedicated to exceptional craftsmanship and artistic trades. Make way for the 2,500 square meters of this magnificent building, well known in the luxury world as the venue for Chanel fashion shows and major exhibitions, most recently the one dedicated to Dolce & Gabbana.
This unprecedented large-scale event follows the integration in early July of the Réunion des Musées Nationaux – Grand Palais as a cultural partner institution of the Comité Colbert.
Four days of immersion in craftsmanship
This new XXL edition of Les Deux Mains du Luxe promises four days, including three with free admission,to discover the great luxury Houses and their exceptional crafts.
It is an opportunity to highlight exceptional expertise and encourage young people to discover these professions of the future. In total, 32 luxury Houses responded to the call from the Comité Colbert, including Cartier, Chanel, Dior, Guerlain, Van Cleef & Arpels, Hermès, and Louis Vuitton. In addition to fashion, six other sectors are represented, namely watchmaking and jewelry, leather goods, gastronomy, tableware, and perfumes and cosmetics.
For the association representing French luxury goods, the event is part of its mission, which has remained unchanged since its foundation by Jean-Jacques Guerlain 71 years ago, namely to ensure the promotion, enhancement, and transmission of the expertise of the French luxury industry.
Around twenty schools and associations complete the program.
True to its interactive format, Les Deux Mains du Luxe will offer live demonstrations, participatory workshops, and roundtable discussions.
An outdoor exhibition on the Champs-Elysées will round out the event.
The backbone of luxury
The luxury industry is currently going through a period of turbulence and is seeking to reconnect with the desirability of its products and brands. It is searching for a remedy for “luxury fatigue” that will involve greater authenticity and humanity.
An event such as Les Deux Mains du Luxe, now in its fifth edition with several regional stops in 2024 (in Cholet in the Pays de la Loire region and also in Lyon), is all the more vital as the sector faces a real shortage of talent capable of crafting the pieces of the great Houses and the dreams of everyone. Talent that can be found not only among the younger generations, but also and above all among people undergoing retraining.
Thus, in 2024, 20,000 craft positions were still vacant out of the 55,000 identified in the sector.
Committed to defending traditional skills, the Comité Colbert participated last fall in the first-ever national study on craft professions in France, conducted by the Institut pour les savoir-faire français. Carried out in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation, Terre & Fils, and the Xerfi consultancy, the study mapped 198 crafts and 83 specialties. The Comité Colbert also showcases luxury craftsmanship during the European Artistic Crafts Days, which took place once again this year at the Mobilier National.
In addition to the challenge of making manual jobs and sectors attractive, France also faces the issue of training and knowledge transfer. Indeed, 39% of the companies surveyed in the aforementioned study reported a lack of diplomas or certifications preparing students for a particular craft or skill.
Read also > Talents du Luxe 2025: Chef Alain Passard wins the Talent d’Or
Featured photo: © Cartier
