STORY: French leather craftsman shares life in China's Shenzhen
SHOOTING TIME: Jan. 6, 2024
DATELINE: Jan. 27, 2024
LENGTH: 0:02:39
LOCATION: SHENZHEN, China
CATEGORY: SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Thomas Maurice (Courtesy of EyeShenzhen)
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): THOMAS MAURICE, French leather craftsman
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): THOMAS MAURICE, French leather craftsman
4. SOUNDBITE 3 (English): THOMAS MAURICE, French leather craftsman

STORYLINE:

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): THOMAS MAURICE, French leather craftsman
"My name is Thomas Maurice. I'm from France. I'm working for DISSONA as a master craftsman. My skills come from (countries) like France and Italy. So most of the brand that I work for come from luxury sector."

Around the age of 20, Thomas Maurice started to learn handicraft skills systematically, and served at many well-known European luxury brands for over a decade.

In 2011, Maurice moved his career to China and joined the Shenzhen-based fashion brand DISSONA two years later.

He then established a high-end customization workshop for the Chinese fashion brand, imparting his saddle stitch and edge paint techniques to young Chinese artisans.

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): THOMAS MAURICE, French leather craftsman
"There are many different aspects (that attracted me to work here). The first one is diversity. In DISSONA what I like is that I'm not really focused on one thing, and I'm not only working with the same people. So it's always a new day, a new journey, and new things to do.
What I like first is original design, and many colors. We have also some very typical and traditional skills on it, like the hand skills here, the hand stitching and the hand weaving.
So I like it because I think it's a combination of something modern and trendy, and also like you can feel like very traditional life skills, and then manual operation on it."

In his spare time, Maurice keeps himself as occupied as at work.

SOUNDBITE 3 (English): THOMAS MAURICE, French leather craftsman
"After work, I'd like to ride a bicycle. I'd like to ride. I'd like to go to the seaside and also hiking in mountains, so the things like this, of course hang out with friends in the restaurant. I'd like to have some good meal, and that's it. So for me, life here in Shenzhen is very easy, busy during the weekend.
If I have opportunities, I wish that I can continue to work here in Shenzhen and continue to develop things, weave leathers with more designers, with more creativity."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Shenzhen, China.
(XHTV)