Artisanal craftsmanship is not something to take lightly in France. The three guilds were born in theMiddle Ages, and became recognized institutions as they were building the French cathedrals and the finest architectural projects. Only the very best artisans get to join one of the guild, after years of practice across France. It takes a journey to become a Compagnon, but it gets you recognition all over Europe.
And thanks to an open mind to new technics and technologies combined with the upholding of their centuries-old values, they survived until nowadays. And today, the new technology there are adopting is 3D-printing that they used for instance for preliminary model. Their challenge is to transform this technology that is threatening to make them obsolete into a tool they could use to improve again their work
Last week, during a Fair called Les Journées de la Construction (The Days of Construction), some compagnon showed how they use 3D-printing, and if you want to read more (and if you speak French), here is the link to the article a French newspaper published
