The Le Mans SME Grav’Or, specialized in glass work for decoration or interior design, has changed hands. Since January 1, 2025, Antoine de Labretoigne du Mazel has taken over the company previously managed by Isabelle Ratiskol. The latter bought the mirror factory in 2014, then in recovery, which it managed to relaunch. On the rise, the 2024 turnover was expected to be “between 4 and 5 million euros” according to the former manager, with twenty-two employees.
Develop internationally
During these ten years, Isabelle Ratiskol has made the Living Heritage company a reference for Made in France in the most beautiful offices and hotels in the world. The buyer also intends to take advantage of “this course set by Isabelle” to develop Grav’Or internationally. “We are only at the beginning,” says Antoine de Labretoigne du Mazel. “The handmade and refined know-how of the Grav’Or teams is very popular in the United States, the Middle East, Turkey, Asia, Europe… done, in almost all countries.”
In 2024, Isabelle Ratiskol told us that her objective was for international “to represent 15 to 20% of activity in five years”, compared to 5% currently. The company specializes in engraving, sandblasting and lacquering glass to create custom-made pieces, industrially or by hand.
A former soldier at the helm
Retired from the Army for a year, Antoine de Labretoigne du Mazel becomes a business manager for the first time in his life. “Beauty thrills me,” he continues. “So I was looking to take over a company like Grav’Or, combining an aesthetic dimension with military rigor. Our meeting with Isabelle worked immediately. We share the same values and the same standards. at work”, comments the 48-year-old man.
Coming from a family of horsemen and Art lovers, Antoine de Labretoigne du Mazel has a predisposition for art. And he invested in the art objects consulting and brokerage company created by his father in 2001. Art Select specializes in art objects with equine or hunting representations (linked to hunting) over a period going from 1850 to 1950. “In parallel with my military career, I was international sales manager for the family business,” says Antoine de Labretoigne du Mazel.
-Experience in decision-making
A graduate of the National Military Prytanée of La Flèche, the officer notably commanded the 1st Parachute Hussar Regiment, in Tarbes (Hautes-Pyrénées). He will remain attached to this regiment despite successive functions in the highest echelons: with the Minister of Defense Hervé Morin in 2010, then at Matignon with the office of Prime Minister François Fillon then Jean-Marc Ayrault, at the General Staff of the European Union from 2016 to 2018, etc. Enough to build experience in team management and strategy implementation.
People and know-how
“Whether it is a regiment of 850 men or a company of twenty employees like Grav’Or, we remain face to face with the human element. The number does not change much. We must make a strategy and objectives understood”, insists the new manager who works every day to learn the gestures and processes from the workers in the Le Mans workshop.
