Ten years ago in 2016, together with the Paris school board and the Compagnons du Devoir et du Tour de France, the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès imagined the Manufacto programme, which invites school groups to discover craft skills through the creation of an object. Over the course of twelve sessions that take place throughout the school year, pupils from primary and secondary schools are introduced to the crafts of leatherwork, leather upholstery, carpentry and plaster moulding by a craftsperson and an assistant.

For the start of the 2026 school year, the Manufacto programme welcomes a new trade – plumbing – as part of a pilot session for pupils aged 13 to 14. Under the guidance of a plumber and two assistants, the middle school pupils will be able to carry out the different steps that will allow them to create a watering can imagined by designers Lorie Bayen El Kaim and Thomas Larbain.

This project will enable them to discover a new material – copper – and to apply the specific gestures of plumbing, such as tracing, cutting, soldering, bending and assembling, to produce an object that is not only useful but also durable.

This pilot group is one of 111 classes – with a total of 2,750 pupils – that will take part in the Manufacto programme this year. The programme now extends across 22 school boards, with Aix-Marseille, Grenoble and Nantes participating for the first time. Since its creation, this educational initiative designed to promote craft trades has continuously expanded across France, enabling ever more young people to enjoy a unique shared experience. Each participating pupil is invited to work with rigour, precision and dexterity thanks to this immersion in the world of craft. At the same time, Manufacto offers teachers a unique space within which they can help their pupils hone a number of fundamental curricular skills.

While the Manufacto programme can help its young participants to discover unexpected vocations, its primary aim is to introduce pupils to new skills and to transmit the singular pleasures of creating an object with one’s own hands over an extended timescale.