- Source: Meilleur Ouvrier de France
Meilleur Ouvrier de France (shortened to MOF) is a competition for craftsmen held in France every four years. The winning candidates receive a medal.
Description
The title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France is a unique and prestigious award in France, according to category of trades in a contest among professionals. This contest is organized and recognized as a third-level degree by the French Ministry of Labour. The President of the French Republic is granted honorary membership with the title MOF honoris causa. The awarding of medals occurs at the Sorbonne, in Paris, during a large reunion followed by a ceremony at the Élysée in the presence of the President of the French Republic.
This award for special abilities is unique in the world. Created in 1924, initially between the best workers of the era aged 23 and over, this contest was given the title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France (Best Craftsman of France). Today, by the diversity of specialities, the list of which is regularly updated, the award has also been awarded to more modern trades and high technology fields.
In this competition, the candidate is given a certain amount of time and basic materials not only to create a masterpiece, but to do so with a goal of approaching perfection. The chosen method, the organization, the act, the speed, the knowhow and the respect for the rules of the trade are verified by a jury just as much as is the final result. The winning candidates receive a medal and retain their title for life, with the indication of the specialty, the year following the one in which they obtain the title.
This prestigious title is equally recognized by professionals and the greater public in France, particularly among artisan-merchants such as pastrymakers, hairdressers, butchers, jewelers, and others whose trades are recognized, particularly those for more luxurious goods.
The Organizing Committee for Labor Exhibitions (COET) is an administrative body, placed under the authority of the French Ministry of National Education. It was created in 1935 and is responsible for the material organization of the “Meilleur Ouvrier de France” competition and the national labor exhibitions that conclude it. It became an association under the law of 1901 in 1961.
List of skills
= Hospitality
=Pastrymaking and candymaking
Cooked meat and catering
Butchery
Cooking and running restaurants
Bakeries
Ice creams and sorbets
Chocolatiers
Cheesemongers
Fishmongers
Waiters
Receptionists
Sommeliers
= Buildings
=Wood carpentry
Metallic ornaments and coverings
Woodwork
Painting and paint decoration
Plumbing, installation of sanitary works, etc.
Stonemasonry
Cementworks
Locksmithing and metalworking
Climate engineering
Stove fittings
Artisanal ironwork
Glasses and mirrors
Decorative sculptures
Engravings
Reinforced Concrete
Plasterworks
Masonry
Mosaics
Glassworks
Marbleworks
Scale models (architecture)
= Clothes
=Millner
Tailor
Furs
Lingerie
Ready-to-wear Daywear
Ready-to-wear Evening Dress
= Fashion accessories and beauty
=Lace
Hand embroidery main
Beauvais
Openwork
Colour Embroidery
White Embroidery
Gold Embroidery
Haute-Couture Embroidery
Gloves
Shoes
Leather Craft
Hairdressing
Beauty care, Make Up
= Textile industries
=Textile designers
Printing on fabrics
"Ready to wear" (high quality) products
Restoration of tapestries and carpets
Carpets
Weaving
= Home decoration
=Cabinetmaking
Woodworking for seats
Wood turners and benders
Wood sculptures
Luthiery
Tapestries - weavers
Tapestries - decorators
Wood gilding
Framing
Marquetry
Cooperage
Wickerwork
= Metallic structures
=Boilermaking
Artisanal copperware
Sheet metalworking
= Industries
=General mechanics
Electrical equipment and installation
Foundry - tool construction
Soldering
Blacksmithing
Composite materials
= Precision techniques
=Cutlery
Clockmaking
Glassesmaking
Dentalworks
Armouryworks
= Synthetic materials arts and techniques
=Plasticworks
= Leathers and skins
=Taxidermy
Trappings
Shoes
Traveling articles, leatherworking
= Ceramics and glassworks
=Glass and crystals
Stained glass windows
Santons
Glassblowing
Ceramic restoration
= Graphic arts and trades
=Advertising graphics
Printing
Photography
Photography (laboratory)
Silkscreen printing
Creation of typographic characters
Bookbinding
= Artistic metalworks
=Jewellery (jewels)
Creation of jewellery with precious metals
Diamondworking
Steel engraving
Copper and steel graving (for printing)
Heraldic and jewel engraving
Luminous bronzework
= Flowers and countryside
=Florist
Gardening (artisanal)
Notable MOF winners
Emile Drouhin (MOF 1958)
Joël Robuchon (MOF 1976)
André Soltner (MOF 1967)
Claude Deligne (MOF 1973)
Olivier Bajard (Métier de bouche)
Paul Bocuse (Métier de bouche)
Matthieu Miossec (Métier de bouche)
Laurent Dassont (Métier de bouche)
Pascal Caffet (Métier de bouche)
René Fontaine (1946-...) : Master chocolatier, MOF 1976. (Métier de bouche)
Yves Thuriès (Métier de bouche)
Roger Vergé (Métier de bouche)
Dominique Laporte (2004)(Métier de bouche-Sommelier)
Jacques Torres
Alain Fabregues (MOF 1991)
Michel Roux (MOF 1976)
Virginie Basselot
Guy Lassausaie (Métier de bouche)
Philippe Etchebest
Stéphane Tréand (MOF 2004)
Many members of the Compagnons du Devoir are also M.O.F.
See also
Kings of Pastry, a 2009 documentary film about the M.O.F. pastrymaking competition
References
External links
Annuaire des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France Directory (in French)
Comité d'Organisation Official page (in French)
Société des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (association) (in French)