28 May 2019

EUROBOIS partner of the 68th Companions’ Congress of Joiners, Cabinet Makers, and Coopers

As the event that brings together all stakeholders in the French timber & wood sector, we take pride in supporting occasions like this one where the sector’s professionals can meet, share, and trade thoughts. That’s why Eurobois is pleased to be a partner of the 68th Congress of Joiners, Cabinet Makers, and Coopers from the “Companions” – the journeymen of France’s Compagnons du Devoir et du Tour de France guild.


Participate in the Congress on « from traditional to digital training »

Organized by the Compagnons du Devoir et du Tour de France for Friday and Saturday 31st May/1st June, 2019 in the Lyon borough of Tour de Salvagny, the congress is another new occasion for exchange, with workshops on the following subjects :

  • Transmission of gestual skills
  • Transmission at the theory evening
  • Training the trainers
  • Trainee autonomy

With more than just a statutory objective, this 68th congress sets out to : 

  • Create an area for reflection and exchange revolving around the guild, the woodworking sector, the future of training
  • Promote and encourage the generation-to-generation link that characterizes the Companions—transmission of skills and first-hand accounts from the oldest journeymen to the youngest 

A unique, essential gathering !

Capture d’écran 2019-05-23 à 15.55.24.pngA community that wants to share in and feed on the experience and learning of enterprises from an attractive region valued by the Association, where the Companions are strongly represented and involved and where indeed the Association Ouvrière des Compagnons du Devoir et du Tour de France, to give it its full name, was created in 1941 (in rue Nérard in Lyon’s Vaise district). The 2019 Congress will be taking place in the suburban borough of Tour de Salvagny.

This event is also necessary to make people aware of and appreciate changes taking place in the Joiner/Outfitter and Cabinet Maker trades. For a long time, the trade focused on the ability to assemble pieces of work; nowadays, it also requires an astute blend of adaptation, leadership, coordination, and transverse skills (management). As we rapidly approach the 2020s, the trade combines the skills of creation, design, fitting-out, installing, and even coordination between the various other trades. Discussion of this evolving trade, both within the guild and with partner companies, is crucial.


Timber too gets a special mention !

Capture d’écran 2019-05-23 à 15.55.44.pngThe timber & wood sector is more relevant than ever, being recognized as an essential element of eco-responsible building. 

Building sustainably is one of the Companions’ values and resolutions that has been handed down through the ages. It is totally consistent with the current “Think global, act local” paradigm: the Companions’ experience must be taken and acted on to make progress with this environmental and sustainable aspect of our society. The social impact of such programmes must take account of social and economic realities in a job catchment area (initial and ongoing job training, social and entrepreneurial innovation), without neglecting the equally important cultural realities (lifestyle, architectural identity, local traditions).

Capture d’écran 2019-05-23 à 15.56.30.pngThe Congress therefore sets itself the mission of facilitating exchanges between the most experienced journeymen and the young apprentices learning their trade while journeying around France and even abroad. As part of this experience sharing, therefore, there will be accounts from apprentices who have recently passed milestones in their professional lives: a year spent at a firm abroad, representation of France at the World Skills contest, completion of a masterpiece to become a qualified journeyman, or participation in an outstanding completed project at a company. That’s the reason Compagnons du Devoir has developed such accompaniment for 75 years, notably in the Lyon region.

It’s in order to stay on this path and give lasting meaning to these values, this vision, this heritage, this expertise, this openness and opportunity for youth that such a congress as this exists.

Capture d’écran 2019-05-23 à 16.21.42.png

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