Best Craftsman of France: a celebrated label now open to global talents

For many years, the Best Craftsman of France label has epitomised French excellence in manual trades. This prestigious award, marked by its distinctive symbols, including a tricolour ribbon and medal, currently honours top craftsmen and women across more than 140 professions. It is now open to non-French nationals as well.

There are two organisations that oversee the Best Craftsman of France title: the COET, responsible for organising the labour exhibitions, exams, and administering the diploma on behalf of the Ministry of Education, and the SNMOF, which has been promoting the title and associated opportunities since 1929.

The concept originated with Albert Lebrun, before he became president of France in 1932, and Lucien Dior, the minister of the economy at the time and cousin of Christian Dior's father.

They envisioned a competition to recognise craftsmanship, highlighting both established and innovative techniques across a spectrum of trades, from the simplest to the most complex, with excellence in execution its key focus.

The association's statutes were filed in 1923, leading to the first labour and trades exhibition at Paris City Hall in 1924. The inaugural awards ceremony was held in January 1925 at the Grand Amphitheater of the Sorbonne, recognising 144 laureates, who are now known as "MOF" (Meilleurs Ouvriers de France).

Passing on knowledge
Building on the Third Republic's proactive promotion of labour, it became customary for the newly elected president to be recognised as the honorary 'first' among the best craftsmen of France.

The diploma ceremony at the Sorbonne is traditionally followed by a reception at the Elysee Palace with all the laureates.

Since then, each generation every two, three, or four years - depending on the logistical demands of training and evaluating apprentices - has produced new laureates who wear the medal and collar, which contains the three colours of the French flag.

The ministry of education, through the COET, has always been responsible for certifying the title, which is equivalent to a two-year degree in various training programs, whether initial, ongoing, or advanced.

Candidates - about 2,000 in the latest selection - can enter the competition from the age of 23, with an average candidate age of 35 years of age. The process is overseen by 150 general juries and supported by 3,000 volunteers.

On entering the competition, graduates can choose to join the National Society of the Best Craftsmen of France (SNMOF), which established its statutes in 1929 and was recognised as a public service in 1952. It now has 1,500 members, who can use it to network and promote themselves both in France and internationally.

Promoting talent
In 1985 the SNMOF also established the competition Best Apprentices of France, which, ever year, produces a group of very young laureates (MAF) in professional training across 110 trades. After this initial milestone, they then aspire to the title of Best Craftsmen of France.

Hundreds of them gathered last February at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris to receive their medals and spoke with RFI.

For Célia Bégué, the Best Apprentice of France in the glass and crystal arts category, it represents both an accomplishment and an opening of new horizons.

The progression goes as follows: Best Apprentice, Best Craftsman of France, and  World Champion through the WorldSkills competition, which is similar to the MOF and was created in Spain in 1946, expanded across Europe in 1953, and globalised in 1970.

The diploma has greatly benefited its holders, especially when they master very ancient and rare crafts.

As a result, on exceptional projects, they are often the first ones called in to help. The restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris is a good example of this where François-Damien Bourgery and Cyril Étienne from RFI met Émile-Armand Benoit, a expert roofer and designer.

Mark of Excellence
The label of French excellence and its blue, white, and red collar has become an internationally recognised mark of distinction and a gateway for many French people to succeed outside of France.

For about a decade, the sector has been open to foreigners, allowing them the opportunity to come to France and try their luck.

The National Society of the Best Craftsmen of France (SNMOF) now conducts international activities with the MOF and MAF, such as opening a crafts museum in Japan and organising an apprentice competition in Morocco.

Although the interaction between France and the rest of the world under this label potentially covers 140 professions,  the culinary arts and all trades related to French gastronomy resonate most with the general public: chef, pastry chef, butcher, restaurateur, sommelier - essentially, all those who contribute to sensory pleasure and a significant economic sector.

"France is the first country in the world to appoint a thematic ambassador for gastronomy and food. [...] Being a Best Craftsman of France means having a sense of responsibility towards others, a certain duty to transmit and develop the skills of others," says Guillaume Gomez who, at the age of 25, became  youngest Best Craftsman of France in history in the culinary category.

As a result, he has served many well-known personalities from around the world as a chef at the Elysee Palace under several presidents, and now serves as the ambassador for gastronomy under President Macron.

It is the richness of such journeys that the RFI foreign language editorial teams sought to illustrate through various portraits of Best Craftsmen of France: including French individuals thriving abroad, such as Stéphane Glacier with his pastry school in Bucharest as well as foreigners who attained this status, like Daniela Capuano, a coffee producer in Brazil, and Juravliova Liubov, a Moldovan artist specializing in silk painting.

Some were  were present at the major trades exhibition in Lyon at the beginning of June, marking the centenary of the first labour exhibition of 1924, organised by the SNMOF, alongside its competition for the Best Apprentice of France.