Fondation d’entreprise Hermès calls for applicants for Skills Academy

The Hermès Foundation d’entreprise invites applications to its fourth Skills Academy, its programme devoted to artisan expertise and innovation centred on a specific raw material. Next years masterclass will focus on textiles and also mark an expansion of the programme’s activities by adding a broader examination of economic and societal issues connected to the chosen theme, the Foundation said in a statement on Monday.

The Foundation has chosen a cross-disciplinary theme for the Academy’s fourth edition. It aims to offer professionals from the spheres of artisanship, design and engineering science a chance to explore the many aspects of textile production — chemical, physical, economic, social, symbolic and cultural — in the company of top specialists, and in a spirit of experimentation and innovation.

Exploring artisan skills and technical innovations

Held biennially since 2014, the Skills Academy initially convened for a nine-month period. From the fourth edition in 2019, the Academy will be held over eleven months, from January to November. Each Academy features a calendar of events implemented by the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès to explore artisan skills and technical innovations in the sector. The programme wants to enable participants to gain knowledge at lectures and masterclasses led by experts, before improving their skills at workshops.

Matali Crasset will be the the director of the next Masterclass. She is an industrial designer by training who established her own company, Matali Crasset Productions, in the early 2000s. Participants will also focus on the resources essential to the production, sale and use of textiles worldwide. With a strong emphasis on sustainability, the theme goes to the heart of some of the key social and environmental questions of our day. Issues connected with the sourcing and transformation of raw materials will also be addressed throughout the programme.

Who can apply?

The Academy is a programme of continuing professional development, aimed at skilled practitioners. The fourth edition, focusing on textiles, invites applications from artisan textile practitioners, designers and engineers specialising in textiles and related sectors. The Academy will select twenty French-speaking professionals currently active in France and neighbouring countries: ten artisans, five designers, five engineers.

Applications are open from April 3 to July 5, 2018.