Glove-making demonstrations at the Cité du cuir in Saint-Junien

For European Heritage Days, the Cité du cuir in Saint-Junien, in the Haute-Vienne department, offered glove cutting and sewing demonstrations on 19 and 20 September 2026. What delighted me is that the museum did not just show gloves behind glass: professionals worked live.

The demonstrations ran from 3 to 6 p.m. on both days, in a reconstructed workshop in the heart of the permanent exhibition. Visitors could see the work of the cutter and the stitcher, and follow the steps of making a leather glove, from cutting the skin to final assembly.

Entry to the Cité du cuir was exceptionally free on those two days, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., as part of European Heritage Days. A good chance to get close to a craft that built the region's reputation.

For anyone who works leather as a hobby, watching a glover handle the cutting, the direction of the grain and the stitching is a real lesson in humility: a glove demands a very different precision from a wallet or a bag. The event is over, but the museum remains open and its details are on its website, citeducuir.fr. I hope there will be more gatherings like this.

Source: OpenAgenda / Ministère de la culture (JEP 2026 Nouvelle-Aquitaine)