ARTYMETIA - UN PROJET SOCIÉTAL DES HAUTS SAVOIR-FAIRE

THE POTENTIAL OF HIGH-LEVEL KNOW-HOW

Led by Dominique Prost and Nathalie Dalifard, both great enthusiasts, the artyMetia project aims to enhance the presentation of high-level know-how in order to promote them in France and internationally.

What is it about? It is about the production of more than 3,500 French workshops creating exquisite craftsmanship. They are part of the heritage of Colbert’s factories, from the virtuosos of rococo interiors to the Art Nouveau of the “Belle Époque”.

These French decorative arts workshops have extraordinary sales potential:

• The alchemy of gestures, materials and creativity that are transmitted are unique.
• They possess the potential of the most fascinating image in the world: that of French sophistication.
• They represent the history of France through the prism of its prestigious episodes: the reign of the Sun King, the Age of Enlightenment, the Bohemian era of the 19th century.

 By acquiring one of these objects, people buy a symbolic piece of it.

A PROBLEM OF VALORIZATION

And yet, these high-level know-how do not achieve their full potential on the international scene. The main reason is that they have been kept quiet in France, their own country.

• As part of the decorative arts, they may have represented for a period, a minor form of art opposed to the major arts (painting, sculpture).
• They may have been treated with condescension by certain elites. Like Proust’s Madame Verdurin, a middle-class woman who loves a rather industrial art…
• Interior design has been reborn in France since the 1990s, but during the post-war decades, it remained confidential. As a consequence of this heritage, there are fewer interior designers in our country.

ARTYMETIA’S MISSION

Our mission remains the valorisation of these high-level know-how in France and abroad to promote all its potentialities.

The tool that offers us this possibility remains a website. Its specificity lies in the experience offered to Internet users, through the integration of high quality photos and videos. They allow us to grasp the soul of the works: the alchemy of the gesture transfiguring the inspiration of the creator and the nobility of the materials.

The market is characterized by the importance of professionals. Designers, architects and interior designers remain the main influencers for their prestigious clients. Thanks to artyMetia, they will be able to better include these magnificent pieces into the projects they develop. The site thus contributes to the vocation of the works: to become exceptional elements transmuting quality architectural achievements into marvelous aesthetic results.

At the same time, the website will offer R&D project management services for complex artistic creations incorporating the multi-skills of several high-level craftsmen. It will also include our offer of restorers and craftsmen likely to renovate damaged works to prolong their existence.

FUNDRAISING

We would like to raise 150 000 €, of which 50 000 € is the validation threshold to finance the finalization of the website (30 k€), the first 70 videos and photos (105 k€) and the audiovisual equipment (25 k€).

Return on investment

In exchange for your investment, you receive a share of the turnover every quarter for 5 years.

All investors will receive 4% of the turnover for a maximum of €150,000 invested. Your share will be proportional to your investment.

Details of financing requirements

Details of financing needs :

STRUCTURE

Pro-D Conseil which carries the artyMetia brand is a LLC created in 2018 with a share capital of €10,000. It is represented by Nathalie Dalifard who holds 100% of the company’s shares.

POSITIVE EFFECTS

ArtyMetia is a societal project that allows art workshops and start-ups to be visible. It will be economically supported by a commercial leverage arm as well as the image of French know-how on the international scene.

By empowering more than 3,500 workshops, artyMetia is one of the first economic actors to be involved.

Architectural firms, in particular, are faced with a strong demand for the creation and renovation of private residences or heritage buildings, hotels and yachts. They are therefore the ones who feed the commercial impact of high-level know-how workshops.

In addition, there is a strong demand from emerging countries, bringing an increasingly wealthy clientele. With the democratization of luxury brands, they are moving towards more creative and unique products.

ECONOMIC IMPACTS :

ArtyMetia is a committed intermediation platform whose mission is to develop employment and a sustainable economy. It allows artisans of high-level know-how to develop commercially, to create or take over an activity and to produce works locally. The whole process of putting art objects up for sale, managing projects and restoring art on the artyMetia website brings a strong commercial activity to all 3,500 workshops. This strong impetus for projects proposed in collaboration with architects is intended to create jobs. By 2022, no less than 50 workshops with young talent and retraining will be able to benefit from our support to create their workshops.

Most of the jobs created will therefore be in rural areas, as the workshops are generally located in the countryside. It is very difficult to relocate them, as this location is consubstantial with their activity. They will fully participate in the resilience of the territories.

INNOVATION IMPACTS :

What is a Boulle piece of furniture? In the 17th century, the cabinetmaker Boulle attracted the attention of Louis XIV with his creations that combined precious wood, bronze and tortoise shells. This was a major craft innovation that produced extremely spectacular results. In addition to cabinet making, it combined high-level know-how in bronze work with the rare skills of a specialist in tortoise shell ornamentation.

The logic is exactly the same today, if they are bathed in tradition the workshops of craftsmen of high-level know-how are also laboratories of ideas, of innovations by new practices.

One of the most important sources of ideas is the customer’s request. Most of the craftsmen distinguish themselves, on this point, by their flexibility and their capacity of adaptation. The problem remains to find partners for the realization of these projects combining several of their ideas. Hence the need to coordinate actions by a Tertius iungens (the third party who connects) according to the terminology of Obstfeld (2005). This is an actor who connects and coordinates professionals in his or her social network or brings in outsiders.

For example, this recent realization of an aesthetically very innovative interior of a yacht:

• The carpets and rugs were made by Tapis de Bourgogne
• All the glass work, sconces and vases were made by Franck Benito
• The cabinet making and lacquering work is done by Elodie Famel
• The work of the Bernard Pictet workshop for engraved, metallized and screen-printed glass

But in terms of creativity and innovation, artyMetia plans to go much further by creating the various elements of the object, for which each participant will contribute his or her own art, know-how and signature, to design the work. artyMetia plans to increase this offer to reach 150 skill-sharing projects by 2026.

The example of the luxury yacht will enable French shipyards to reposition themselves in relation to Italy and the Netherlands.

A project has already been initiated by artyMetia with potential international buyers.

This project is based on a concept of aluminum hulls, hydrogen propulsion and navigation devices from French start-ups.

This demonstrates once again that France has a place in the creation of luxury interiors with more than 50 different crafts and skills.

Finally, the NFT identity also brings innovation to our workshops and to all of our specialized customers.

SOCIAL IMPACTS :

ArtyMetia is also a strong social and human link. We all know our crafts perfectly well, having been immersed in the workshops.

However, this living heritage is clearly in danger. 56% of respondents to the above-mentioned Xerfi study are over 50 years old and 11% are under 35…

This dichotomy says it all, the profession is experiencing an aging of the craftsmen of high-level know-how without replacement by young people. As the profession is essentially transmitted by apprenticeship, there is a risk of loss of know-how which are as many parts of the History of France.

This observation is corroborated by the study “Les métiers d’art, d’excellence et du luxe et les savoir-faire traditionnels : L’avenir entre nos mains” conducted at the request of the Prime Minister by Senator Catherine Dumas. The report highlights:

“Everyone agrees that the diversity and richness of the crafts are currently in danger. Some trades are, in fact, threatened with disappearance, due to a lack of vocation or appropriate training, but also due to a lack of real consideration for the particular constraints of these activities.

Preparing the future of art crafts, and even avoiding the disappearance of some of them, consists in acting in two directions: on the one hand, ensuring the training of new art craftsmen and, on the other hand, preserving the balance of their economic model“.

The training of a craftsman of high-level know-how is long and iterative, it is often composed à la carte according to the needs of technical mastery, the desire and availability. If the technical gesture itself can be learned in the learning centers, the “turn of hand” is similar to a gesture of alchemy, it is forged only in contact with his peers.

The testimony of a young potter in the above-mentioned academic article is interesting,

“I did four years of training. I found the training center in Saint-Amand-en-Puisaye (…) We were on the lathe for 8 hours a day, you had to really like it, because they were training people to be serial turners to work in factories. […] After the turning training I knew that it wasn’t enough for me. So I worked, it was an exchange with a potter who allowed me to continue my training with her. She was in Savoie. I stayed a little less than a year with her and then I found a SEMA (Société d’Encouragement aux Métiers d’Art) training course. I did that near Chambéry. It was interesting for them because they had a double production. A production of Savoyard glazed clay and a production of stoneware. Afterwards, to complete my training, I went back to the Center in Puisaye to do a course in enamel firing for six months.

Above all, it is a job of passion that requires many sacrifices…

Today, the political power has still not been able to provide economic solutions so that an apprentice can be housed and fed during his training, which is never paid.

The transmission of the work tool is also essential. Indeed, most of the time it is about very specific equipment, often unique. It is therefore essential that this equipment does not disappear and that young people are trained to use it.

The artyMetia website contributes directly to the renewal of the artisans of high-level know-how:

The promotion of the professions to young people will be a clear part of artyMetia’s mission as set out in the company‘s statutes.

The quality of the videos (70 from the first year) freely available on the YouTube and Vimeo channels are all media supports that can initiate the desire and why not the passion in young people who want a job that makes sense …. It is hoped that several tens of thousands of views will be generated.

The same videos can allow many more contacts between the artisans of the high-level skills and the young people, multiplying the opportunities to initiate learning collaborations, thus à la carte.

Artymetia is committed to holding one or two webinars every month (lasting 1.5 hours), bringing together around fifty young people to help them discover high-level know-how jobs and put them in contact with craftsmen. Each webinar will open with the viewing of a video (each time different), a presentation of the craftsman, and then a free discussion will take place. The production of the webinar will be entrusted to a partner (cost 1 300 € per webinar who will promote it) and it will be co-organized with the Guidance Centres.

The financial boost of €10 million generated by the site between now and 2026 will enable the hiring of 77 people to cope with the influx of orders. They will be mainly young people. The reason is simple, they are often unique and therefore absent from the labor market. This financial dimension of increased activity is important: the Xerfi study showed that, due to a lack of prospects, only 14% of respondents planned to recruit staff, and the rate fell to 4% for one-person structures. artyMetia will thus help to remove this obstacle, which is often a barrier to training young people.

ECO-RESPONSIBLE IMPACT

The promotion of high-level know-how by artyMetia contributes to the preservation of the environment in several ways:

Generally speaking, artisans of high-level know-how are relatively close to nature.

The production in small series avoids the use of a large number of common chemical products (solvent etc….) characterizing the big industry. Similarly, the raw materials are noble and eco-sourced, excluding, for example, plastics that are particularly harmful to the environment. Inherited from pre-industrial centuries, the techniques are also less polluting. For example, vegetable tanning in leather work is much more environmentally friendly than the mineral tanning widely used in industry. Lastly, the nobility of the profession makes it easier for high-level craftsmen to adopt eco-responsible sourcing approaches and to use materials accordingly.

Nevertheless, it is necessary to go even further and to limit even more the quantity of waste and pollution in each work and in each project. This is an additional added value and responds to a desire of a clientele increasingly concerned about environmental impacts.

artyMetia will take three types of initiatives:

Sourcing of materials. We are already working on sourcing with leather, wood, glass, paper, plant and animal art. Our goal is to identify materials that are more favourable to biodiversity through our ecosystem. (example: the Wedogood project “Ictyos” Tanning of fish skins)

Use of upcycled materials. Contrary to popular belief, this approach is far from being incompatible with the nobility of materials. These can be perfectly recycled, noble materials can be remade with scraps or residues. For example, luxury eyewear frames can be made from leather scraps. Authentic Material in Toulouse is a specialist in this approach, a partnership could be initiated.

Sharing environmental data. The aim is to understand the transmission of pollution and discharges object by object, work by work, to better limit them. The aim would be to obtain an ISO 14001 type certification or a B-corp label, which is also highly appreciated by customers.

In order to do this, from 2024 onwards, artyMetia will work with the company OKP4 to create a data space on the environmental impacts of the project, with the company OKP4, which has already produced the “data is in the meadow”.

The process is carried out in three stages:

• Each stakeholder identifies the environmental data it has (use of materials, energy, carbon footprint of its activity …), these data are recorded in a blockchain that guarantees traceability and use
• They are used by an artificial intelligence that allows us to calculate their environmental impact, object by object, realization by realization
• This knowledge is reflected in the costs of the services and the data made available by everyone is paid for via the blockchain.

ArtyMetia, a committed website and company

The artyMetia platform itself is already very committed to ethics. We are committed to making social, societal and environmental issues an additional value in marketing our products.

It is this strong commitment that will allow the artyMetia brand to be a LABEL for art studios.

The digital aspect of the site reduces the carbon impact both digitally and commercially as it has a low social and environmental impact.

artyMetia will become a company with a mission. This mission, according to the regulations, will be specified in the statutes. It will involve :

• The promotion of high-level French know-how
• The ethics of the approach
• Respect for the environment through committed actions
• The promotion of high-level skills trades to ensure the sustainability of workshops, which are seriously threatened today
• The durability of the terroirs

artyMetia will engage itself in an environmentally friendly logic by :

• A Carbon Diagnosis
• Limiting air travel
• An ethical charter for employees and subcontractors
• An impact assessment every two years by a specialized company that will verify the adequacy of the achievements with artyMetia’s mission
• Valuation of daily actions in favor of the environment, for example: recovery of coffee grounds to make mushrooms grow.

Moreover, artyMetia will select the artisans of high-level know-how on precise ethical criteria:

• Historicity of hight-level know-how
• High-level technical mastery of the craftsman
• Creativity
• Respect for traditional techniques
• Choice of noble materials
• Environmental approach
• Sophistication of the design
• Establishment in a terroir
• Valorization of high-level know-how in the context of the terroir
• Communication to the wider public (e.g. opening of the workshop)
• Recognition of the high-level skills craftsman by his peers
• Transmission of high-level know-how to the youngest

Finally, the site will oblige the craftsmen of high-level know-how to a real environmental approach:

• Carbon impact compliance obligation
• All the actors work by video, which avoids travel.
• The transport of the works was chosen from the workshops and according to eco-responsible criteria. (choice of packaging, mode of transport…)
• Eco-responsible sourcing of raw materials

ArtyMetia was born from the compression of “arts” & “crafts“.

It is the first French digital intermediation platform.

Its objective is to promote the art workshops and factories of the Hauts Savoir-Faire, the high-level know-how.

Its purpose is to create an economic dynamic between building professionals, heritage restorers, DPLG architects, interior architects, designers and craftsmen representing the high level of know-how of our heritage in more than 200 trades.

The mission of the whole project is to offer R&D “Project Management” services through the pooling of business skills.

This expertise already allows us to create the most marginal, rare and creative works corresponding to the expectations of an international clientele.

WHO ARE WE TALKING ABOUT ?

Today’s high-level know-how are clearly the heirs of the Decorative Arts. They aim essentially at the ornamentation of places. It is above all private residences, hotels, yachts, it can also be public buildings or certain stores (the dome of the Galeries Lafayette in Paris for example) and luxury stores.

The difficulty with the term “Arts Décoratifs” lies in the fact that it can easily be confused with “Arts Déco” which is a particular movement dating from the 1950s – 1960s. Hence the name of high-level craftsmanship more representative of the exceptional quality of this tradition.

They are directly inherited from Colbert’s policy of excellence, their golden age extending from the 18th and 19th centuries to the art nouveau period at the beginning of the 20th century .

In fact, in the 17^th century, the life of the courts implied massive capital flight towards the Netherlands or Italy, places of production of very high-level quality articles. Hence the creation of factories and the quality labeling of workshops via trademarks.

After the war of 1914, without ceasing to exist and to develop their creativity, they became more discrete. The workshops concentrated on orders from a smaller number of customers. Nevertheless, the High-level Know-How continued to be transmitted from Masters to apprentices …. There are still more than 3,500 workshops in France that perpetuate excellence.

They are distinguished on 3 cumulative criteria:

• Very high-level level of technical excellence,
• Use of noble or exceptional materials,
• Unique pieces or in very small series.

These creations are exceptional and are therefore ultimately aimed at wealthy audiences via interior designers or even enthusiasts or collectors.

They are distinguished on 3 cumulative criteria:

• Very high level of technical excellence,
• Use of noble or exceptional materials,
• Unique pieces or in very small series.

These creations are exceptional and are therefore ultimately aimed at wealthy audiences via interior designers or even enthusiasts or collectors.

On the other hand, the high-level skills are clearly differentiated:

Luxury: Luxury can use some of the creations but they are not reducible to them. The luxury industry obeys extremely elaborate marketing strategies as imposed by the expected profitability of large groups. The workshops of high-level know-how are much freer and therefore much more creative.

Handicrafts: Handicrafts perpetuate traditions and manual productions essentially made up of primers and mainly marketed on tourist sites. The difference lies in the ability to work the materials and the exceptional character of the pieces. Those resulting from the high-level know-how use raw materials which are much more expensive, the techniques are much more sophisticated and the volumes of work involved in a single work are not comparable.

MARKET, CUSTOMERS AND POSITIONING

ArtyMetia is mainly positioned on a wide range of works of Decorative Art corresponding to a customer expectation and an intrinsic need of architectural firms, collectors and a whole international population waiting for exceptional products.

Of course, it is the final client who ultimately chooses and acquires the works, but the role of the architect is fundamental because he integrates them and proposes them in an aesthetic creation of interior decoration.

It is essentially a niche market, B to B and B to C.

In figures, the French Order of Architects lists 40,000 architects in France, 25,000 of whom are more specific to interior design, representing a turnover of more than $10 billion.

But the paradox is that on the most prestigious achievements of the world the national niche remains marginal compared to its global dimension.

The international market could be estimated at $200 billion in 2020 and should reach more than $350 billion in 2027, increasing by 8% per year over the period.

However, even if this is not the core target, DPLG architects (building) in a more general way are also prescribers of the works of high-level-skilled craftsmen. There are 4 million of them in the world, including 25,000 in France, 116,000 in the USA and 42,000 in the United Kingdom ….

The market is also made up of a wide range of international private collectors and art lovers.

COMMERCIALIZATION STRATEGY

ArtyMetia, through its website develops 3 axes of offer:

An exclusive offer to sell unique NFT art objects via a specific subscription (480€ pre-tax). An offer of unique art objects for sale on the site, from the workshops of art craftsmen of the high-level know-how. The objective remains to sell 900 items per year within 5 years, with an average of 30% commission.

An offer to put damaged works of art in contact with professionals who have the expertise to restore them.

An offer of project management through the pooling of skills in order to carry out works involving several trades of high-level know-how. For example: a desk need, in addition to the work of the cabinetmaker, a work of ironwork, a work of high-level technology and lacquer by the craftsman lacquerer, ….

THE ARTYMETIA BUSINESS MODEL

Business Model artyMetia

ARTYMETIA’S ADDED VALUE

Concentration of works of art of the high-level craftsmen

The site will concentrate in a unique and nevertheless very selective way the creations of 200 craftsmen of high-level know-how. If the first two years the selection of the craftsmen will be done at the initiative of the founders of the site on criteria of ethics, of the most accomplished know-how, it is envisaged to integrate through the transmission of the knowledge of young craftsmen of art.

For the following years, the implementation of a co-optation system will facilitate entry to the site.

The enchantment of the work of the craftsmen of the high-level know-how via photos and videos of high-level quality.

Developed over the last thirty years, experiential marketing postulates that consumption acquires much more value if it includes a strong dimension of emotion and pleasure. It is about re enchanting the act, breaking with the marketing of democratized products that are only functional and therefore “disenchanted”. It is therefore a question of giving the customer a positive experience, and the key word is immersion.

“A consumer who is high-levelly immersed in an experiential environment is then involved, absorbed and totally engaged (Lombard and Ditton, 1997). He or she has forgotten external reality, has lost awareness of who he or she is in the real world to a self in the experiential context.” Fornerino, Helme-Guizon and Gotteland (2008).

The site is in line with this logic. Each craftsman of the high-level know-how will be presented with photos and a video of high-level quality. The gesture, the material, the creativity will be valued. The vocation being clearly immersive, the interior designers will be able to present these audiovisual supports to their final customers. They will be all the more encouraged to do so as the objects presented will symbolically acquire an extra soul, thus contributing to the narrative of the design project. These videos also transmit the essential culture of the works. It will therefore be a powerful marketing vector, strongly encouraging sales.

Traceability

The development of NFT identities by artyMetia will allow for the traceability, bonding and justification of the excellence of works. It is also a way to fight against counterfeiting but above all a way to enhance the value of works by customers in the world of art speculation via exclusive subscription.

The unique pieces present on the site

In return for the production and the rights to use the videos and photos, the craftsmen and women of high-level know-how will undertake to present a certain number of unique pieces exclusively on the site. This will also be a strong incentive for architects, interior architects and designers, as it is true that wealthy clients are looking for exceptional creations.

Animation of the community

Dominique and Nathalie have a very intrinsic knowledge of the environment. It will allow them to have a specific animation policy to present to architects, interior designers and clients works that correspond precisely to their universe.

Competitive positioning

There are a few sites that list the artisans of art. Others market manufactured products that have no direct link with the know-how of art craftsmen. The best known is undoubtedly Etsy (81.9 million buyers, 4.4 million, 10.28 billion in 2020), but like the vast majority it is primarily intended for the general public without any selectivity on the sourcing and quality of products.

ArtyMetia is positioned in a niche that is currently largely unoccupied. The characteristics of the site give it a number of strategic differentiating assets in this niche:

• A website essentially B to B and B to C,
• Very high-level selectivity of works and craftsmen of high-level know-how
• Immersive photos and videos
• Unique works of art of the high-levelest quality NFT
• Unique offer of project management of complex works
• Pooling of business skills
• Specific animation

It is this set of characteristics that gives the site its unique dimension and all its competitive differentiation

THE SITE

Enthused by the artyMetia project, Thomas Couteau, with his 25 years of experience in e-commerce (founder of the 5eme Gauche agency), helped us define our value proposition and our digital strategy. He also helped us finalize the specifications of our intermediation platform. The website development was entrusted to Comptoirs digital native, a recognized player on the market with numerous references in luxury, e-commerce and acquisition strategy.

• Aiming at an international clientele, the site will be available in French and English
• The Home page immediately suggests the “Coups de cœurs” and “Works of young talent”. It integrates an intuitive descriptive hamburger menu on the various proposals of artymetia and finally on the latest news of the blog

• A “shop” page, that presents in a luxurious and exhaustive way the various works offered

• The “craftsmen of art” page, that allows us to discover in a homogeneous and ethical way the craftsmen of art of high-level know-how. A page is dedicated to each one of them, in order to promote them with photos and a video

• The Manufacture page is the equivalent of the “Artisans d’art” page, but specifically for manufactures. It supports the Terre & Fils foundation which works to rehabilitate know-how in the territories
• The site also high-levellights architects, interior designers and designers

• Finally, the site links to the artyMetia blog

COMMUNICATION AND PROMOTION

The Web animation policy will be particularly important, it will be structured around :

Social networks including LinkedIn (over 1,000 specialists in the founders’ networks), Facebook and Instagram.

Weekly private events online for professionals. In addition to the communication of unique works of art, the craftsmen of high-level know-how will be able to use their respective database to communicate with the videos and photos of artyMetia while respecting the RGPD. Similarly, architects, interior designers and designers will be able to communicate about unique works of art and present them to a wide international audience. The already rich address book of the founders will be further expanded, especially internationally. It will allow the sending of high-levelly targeted invitations to all these prescribers.

A blog will be developed to provide in-depth articles on the subject of art.

artyMetia will be present at the various international shows but also at other events such as the MYS (Monaco Yacht Show) where France has a say in the creation of luxury yachts.

PROJECT RETROPLANING 

KPI FORCASTS

HISTORY OF THE PROJECT 

Sometimes there are destinies that are simply the logical outcome of meetings and experiences. This goes back to 2018, where this association of skills between two people gave birth to a passion for arts and crafts. It was also a desire to leave a significant and rewarding footprint. That of a heritage which until now has been neglected by the various economic actors. The lockdown also allowed us to create the first cultural game on more than 200 crafts, “Master Craftsman”. We were thus able to measure the expectations of all these art workshops that follow us. All these human exchanges have allowed us to acquire a maturity that seems to gather a very large community.

THE TWO CO-FOUNDERS 

A graduate of l’École du Louvre, Sup de Luxe and HEC Management (CESA), Dominique developed in the first part of his career experience as a marketing, development and creation executive within houses such as Cartier, Lancel, LVMH, Christofle. …

Since 2008, he has managed audiovisual production and project consulting companies serving the great French tradition.

In addition to Nathalie and Dominique, there are plans to recruit :

• 1 webmaster (internship 2022, CDI 2023)
• Complex project management officers (8 by 2026)
• Project management officers (6 by 2028)
• Eventually, export sales executives (8 by 2026)

The project evaluation and investment statistics

Evaluations

Investments

General

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They have invested

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