Unique know-how and manual manufacturing from A to Z: the Manufacture des Émaux de Longwy (Meurthe-et-Moselle), a bicentennial earthenware factory victim of the “economic slump”, has placed itself in receivership, in the hope of a new lease of life.
The company's president, Martin Pietri, requested in September that it be placed in receivership with the Briey commercial court, to “give us oxygen and give us the strength to face the future”, recalls- does he with the‘AFP. A judicial recovery makes it possible in particular to freeze debts and obtain debt forgiveness and payment deadlines.
The duration of the procedure is six months, renewable once. On Thursday, a first situation update must take place in court, but Martin Pietri says he is confident: “We had an increase in activity, we were able to increase our cash flow, we will present a rather encouraging situation”.
Santa's Factory
The employees, for their part, are doing their best behind the scenes to honor the influx of Christmas gift orders: overtime, reinforcements, the company is transformed into a Santa Claus factory. Generally speaking, “we do everything to ensure that it continues,” underlines Catherine Meneghin, an employee for 39 years, like her mother. “I don’t want it to close, for the story to end,” she insists.
From receiving the soil to shipping it to points of sale or to individuals, nothing is subcontracted to Émaux de Longwy: it is the forty employees who carry out all the work. “We are a chain,” comments Catherine Meneghin.
Whether in the first pouring stage or once the earth has dried, when the decorators come on stage, the employees express their “pride” in working artisanally for the company. Almost no machines, only manual craftsmanship, that's what pleases Virginie Dieumegard, a multi-skiller who was assigned to casting on Wednesday. “It’s quite rare now,” says the woman who has been employed in this workshop on the Luxembourg border for 27 years.
A profession of passion
Brush in hand, decorator Chloé Albrecht, a young recruit trained by her colleagues three years ago, sets about painstakingly filling a ball measuring 35 centimeters in diameter with color, requiring great precision and patience. . “Two and a half days of work” approximately. A “passion” job for the young woman.
Employees like the president of the workshop say they are touched by the support provided by consumers “in Lorraine, in France and around the world”, who notably acquired, in the fall, a turquoise blue owl (called Bleu Longwy) on which a heart is drawn, named “Longwy mon amour”. It was intended to support the company in this difficult phase. The thousand pieces were sold quickly, at a price of 150 euros each.
“Despite all our efforts, the crises, the economic slump and international tensions are weakening our situation, at the risk of threatening our jobs,” wrote the company to justify this special edition.
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(afp/er)
