Meilleur Ouvrier de France

"Un des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France" is a craftsmen competition, held every four years.

The title of Un des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (shortened to MOF) is a unique award in France according to category of trades in a contest between 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 Un Des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (One of the Best Craftsmen 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 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. This competition requires months, sometimes years, of preparation. Technical skills, innovation, respect for traditions and other aspects are all practiced repeatedly to a level of refinement and excellence, effectiveness and quickness to succeed and be crowned by the jury, which makes its decision according to the distribution of points awarded during the entire process.

List of skills

Foods

• Pastrymaking and candymaking
• Cooked meat and catering
• Butchery
• Cooking and running restaurants
• Bakeries
• Ice creams and sorbets
• Chocolatiers
• Cheesemongers
• Fishmongers

Buildings

• Wood carpentry
• Metallic ornaments and coverings
• Woodwork
• Painting and paint decoration
• Plumbing, installation of sanitary works, etc.
• Stonemasonry
• Cementworks
• Locksmithing and metalworking
• Mosaics
• Climate engineering
• Stove fittings
• Artisanal ironwork
• Glasses and mirrors
• Decorative sculptures
• Engravings
• Reinforced Concrete
• Plasterworks
• Masonry
• Mosaics
• Glassworks
• Marbleworks
• Scale models (architecture)

Clothing accessories

• Lace and hand embroidery
• Corsets, bras, lingerie
• Tailoring

Beauty and aesthetics

• Men's hairstyling
• Women's hairstyling
• Aesthetic body hygiene

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
• Lute-making
• 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

• Laboratory technicians, 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)

The most celebrated M.O.F winners

• Olivier Bajard (Métier de bouche)
• Paul Bocuse (Métier de bouche)
• Matthieu Miossec (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)
• Beaucoup de Compagnon du devoir sont MOF

External links

• Kings of Pastry - IMDb page for the 2009 documentary film on the M.O.F. competition for pastrymaking.