At 100, Chanel-owned Embroiderer Lesage Plans for the Future

PARIS — As Lesage marks a century in business, the Chanel-owned embroidery and weaving specialist is celebrating its long history of collaborations with leading Paris haute couture houses, while keeping an eye firmly on the future.

An exhibition at Chanel’s Paris craftmanship hub Le19M, opening on Thursday, caps a series of commemorative events this year in locations ranging from France and Italy to Senegal.

“Lesage: 100 years of Fashion and Decoration” features a selection of ornately embellished outfits from the likes of Chanel, Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent and Schiaparelli, alongside highlights from Lesage’s archive of 75,000 samples, which it bills as the world’s largest collection of fine embroidery.

Complementing historical documents, including sketches and photographs, are immersive installations that suggest how new technologies, such as 3D, can augment an age-old discipline rooted in the human hand.

“It’s a retrospective, but at the same time, it opens up the fields of possibility for the skills of the future,” said Bruno Pavlovsky, president of fashion and president of Chanel SAS. “Today, embroidery has no limits.”

Wraparound screens show 3D scans of embroidery samples that are given the AI treatment, transforming a Balenciaga pattern into a mountain range, or a Schiaparelli motif into an island. 

Also on display are 3D-printed versions of the iconic Chanel suit, created by Karl Lagerfeld in 2015 using a technique called selective laser sintering.

“We’re illusionists, capable of making three rows of sequins look like a sunset. We’re storytellers,” said Hubert Barrère, artistic director of Lesage since 2011. “I wanted it to be a journey through Lesage in Wonderland.”

When Chanel acquired the embroiderer in 2002, it was more out of a need to preserve its expertise at an economically sensitive juncture, rather than confidence in the company’s growth prospects, Pavlovsky recalled. 

“It was touch-and-go at the time, because embroidery wasn’t yet used in ready-to-wear,” he said. 

He credited François Lesage, the son of founders Albert and Marie-Louise Lesage, with laying strong foundations for the company’s survival.

Subsequently, Chanel also bought a controlling stake in Lesage Intérieurs, specializing in interior design and decoration, and its Vastrakala embroidery atelier based in Chennai, India, in addition to ACT3, a weaving workshop in France that specializes in tweed.

These days, the companies jointly employ around 450 people and work hand-in-hand to cater to haute couture, ready-to-wear and interiors clients, both large and small.

“With hindsight, it all seems obvious, but back then, we were mapping out the future without really knowing if it would work out,” Pavlovsky said. “At 100 years, Lesage has never been in better shape.”

Barrère is confident the company will similarly weather the new challenges of technological upheaval and more stringent environmental controls.

“Even if our sector is tiny in relation to the broader fashion market, reputed to be the world’s most polluting industry, we have to be exemplary,” he said. “This is extremely challenging because many of the elements we use in embroidery are made of plastic.”

Lesage is working to eliminate the use of almost all petroleum and plastic-based supplies by 2030, by focusing on biosourced materials such as cellulose sequins.

“The group is committed to helping its suppliers both technically and financially, because all this comes at a large cost,” Barrère said. “We’re at a point where the old techniques are outdated, but the new ones don’t yet exist.”

As it adapts to the new regulatory landscape, Lesage continues to expand the scope of its activities. ACT3’s tweed fabrics now incorporate not just traditional yarns, but elements such as pearls, sequins, leather, velvet and organza, of which at least 70 percent are eco-certified.

Meanwhile, Lesage Intérieurs has gone from restoring tapestries at historic locations like the Palace of Versailles to creating cutting-edge furniture, such as the Pompei chair by Victoire de Brantes featured in the exhibition. 

Even as it explores new technologies and raw materials, Lesage remains dependent on the skilled craftspeople that work in silent concentration in its workshops. 

To guarantee a steady stream of new recruits, it has forged partnerships with leading schools including the Institut Français de la Mode, École Boulle and École Duperré. 

It also offers its own courses at the Ecole Lesage, created in 1992, and has branched out overseas with initiatives like the education program at Highgrove launched last year with The Prince’s Foundation established by Britain’s King Charles III.

To stir curiosity among the general public, Lesage frequently invites novices to take part in projects like French artist Aristide Barraud’s installation “Murmuration,” in which video is projected onto layers of organza embroidered with hundreds of starlings during public workshops held in Marseille, Dakar, Venice and now Paris.

“Never say never, but for the time being, there’s no substitute for the human hand and eye,” said Pavlovsky, adding that the outreach efforts are bearing fruit. “When you visit the workshops, it’s rather encouraging. You see a lot of young people, so there’s new blood coming in.”

Indeed, the company is steadily adding physical capacity.

In 2021, Lesage and Lesage Intérieurs moved into Le19M, a striking building designed by award-winning architect Rudy Ricciotti that is also home to fellow embroiderer Atelier Montex and other specialized workshops. 

Meanwhile, ACT3 recently expanded its factory in Uzein in southern France, while an extension of Vastrakala’s workshop in India should be completed by 2026.

Barrère is convinced that the human touch will utimately guarantee the company’s survival.

“In a world that’s becoming increasingly dehumanized, with more and more robots, machines and standardization, embroidery is completely anachronistic,” he remarked. “When you look at embroidery, as opposed to something machine-made, you have to be able to feel the human vibration emanating from it.”