The Wauters teamWauters: a living heritage company

A sign of the State’s recognition, the “Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant” (Living Heritage Company) certification label is awarded to French companies who show exceptional skill in their industry and craft.
After reviewing our application, the prefect for the Ile-de-France region has given us this prestigious label, rewarding our know-how which we developed over the last 110 years.

The EPV label’s requirements

A vision of excellence

Created in 2005 and awarded for a 5-year period, the EPV label testifies the high quality and collective approach of unique manufacturers, who have successfully combined “innovation and tradition, know-how and creativity, work and passion, heritage and future, local and global”. As well as a broad and cohesive perspective, applicant companies are assessed in several respects:
– a top quality performance of their trade and their products,
– a constant commitment to internal training,
– a technically and socially innovative approach,
– and finally, an active business strategy.

A rigorous selection process 

The meticulous assessment of applications is conducted by experts, Qualified Persons appointed by Order of the Minister of Crafts and by the National Institute of Crafts (Institut National des Métiers d’Art).
This demanding selection process, which includes a visit of the production sites and an examination report, guarantees the excellence of certified companies.

The EPV label and Wauters

Gilding and embossing, two skills in the spotlight

For over a century, we have been a family-run independent company, and gilding is our house’s very first area of expertise. First applied to leather (book covers, desk pads, etc.) in the early twentieth century in our first workshop in the Parisian Marais quarter, this know-how has evolved towards luxury packaging in the late 1960s, in the graphic arts industrial area of Villebon-sur-Yvette. On flat areas, with finesse, or through cylinder application, our mastery of hot marking is now complemented by our expertise in cold marking.

Another key aspect of luxury packaging also certified by the label apart is embossing. Thus, we have developed this skill in all its aspects: multi-level, stamping, dry application, etc.

These 2 delicate steps in the process require a high level of technique with the machinery’s calibration and production. This rare know-how requires several years of experience, not to mention rhythm and regularity, to meet our high expectations. We support our teams in giving new recruits all the necessary training by sharing their practice daily.

A forward-looking company 

The Wauters house has always invested in new machines on the cutting edge of technology to offer consistent improvement in our products with a high quality and a production level which limits drudgery on the part of human employees, as well as the environmental impact: double-function machines, hot marking cylinder application, coding, edge painting, and now cold marking.
In 2020 and 2021, the Wauters group sent provided new equipment for its 2 production sites: a new offset printing press in Burgundy, and a new printing machine coupled with a cold stamping unit in the Paris region.

We are deeply honoured to belong to the EPV family, to reveal the passion behind our profession, and to share this collective vision of excellence and “Made in France”.

The Wauters team

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