The operation can be seen as a crowdfunding campaign. A call for support, to save a company dating from 1798. The Émaux de Longwy factory (Meurthe-et-Moselle), currently in receivership, has just launched the manufacture of a thousand copies of a little blue owl, at a price of 150 euros, “to help the company get through a delicate financial situation,” modestly explains Martin Pietri, the president of the factory, which has debts “greater than a million euros. »
It was he himself who requested that the company go into receivership last September to freeze the invoices. “This gives a breath of fresh air to the 38 employees,” he assures. “2024 was a worse year than expected, with soaring prices for raw materials and energy, we are not selling products that are essential to daily life…”
With pieces entirely decorated by hand, the technique of which is also included in the Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage in France, Émaux de Longwy regularly collaborates with Dior, Saint Laurent, and also supplies enameled eggs to the Élysée . Currently, the workshops are busy manufacturing this little blue owl, of which 800 examples have already been reserved. “This means that customers are keen to save heritage. If we sell them all, we will recover the equivalent of a month’s cash, that’s already very positive,” says Martin Pietri.
