About

Isabelle Dupuy Chavanat is a documentary filmmaker. She began her career as a photographer, training at the Gobelins school in Paris, before becoming a journalist and traveling the world, always guided by her keen eye, her ability to listen, and her love of meeting new people.

For over ten years, she has been highlighting rare skills, subtle craftsmanship, and quiet journeys through her films.

In 2011, she co-directed Les Mains d'Hermès with Frédéric Laffont, a sensitive journey through the brand's workshops, meeting the artisans who shape, transmit, and invent. The film, which was seen by more than 5 million viewers, was accompanied by a series of nine short films and was broadcast on Sundance Channel (United States).

In 2014, she directed Voyage en Ikat for Hermès.

In 2015, she co-directed Au fil du monde with Jill Coulon, a collection of five documentaries (43 to 52 minutes) produced and broadcast on Arte.
These films, shot in Asia, from Tibet to Japan, via Mongolia, India, and Nepal, pay tribute to the intelligence of the hand and the transmission of know-how. Through these portraits of artisans, some of whom are linked to major fashion houses, the film pays tribute to the intelligence of the hand and the transmission of know-how. The series has been selected for several festivals and won the audience award at the International Asian Film Festival (FICA).

Since 2022, she has continued to explore exceptional craftsmanship by making short films for Hermès and the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation, as well as for Chopard, but also creates portraits of artists and poetic stories.

In 2023, the book L'Atlas mondial de l'artisanat d'art (Flammarion) was published. This book presents the journeys of artisans around the world and is an ode to the materials and the hands that work them. The English version, A Modern Artisan, was published in 2024.

In 2024, she directed Métamorphosis, a 70-minute film dedicated to retired dancers from the Paris Opera. The film is produced by Memo Films, Paper Moon, and Chanel. Worldwide release: 2025.

For a few years now, visual artist Isabelle Dupuy Chavanat has been making documentary films about women and men who live from their unique crafting skills.

After graduating from French photography school Les Gobelins in Paris, Isabelle Dupuy Chavanat quickly entered the world of journalism. Early in her career, she knew that images would be at the heart of her life. As a photography lover and enlightened globetrotter, she has always been passionate about wide-open spaces and roads crossing Asia, Africa and America.

Her travels are nourished by encounters and conversations with the world’s residents. She has carried out many photo-reportages for international magazines. Mixing poetry and onirism, each project is a singular story, created with an original eye.

Isabelle's works embark the reader in surprising journeys: the silk road from Urumchi to Peshawar, Suzhou, the dragon’s well Jamdabi, the fabrics from Calcutta are only a few examples from China, India and Pakistan of these incredible travels.

• Chine/Pakistan - La route de la soie - Vogue Décoration

• Chine - Suzhou, « le Puit du Dragon - Figaro Madame

• Japon, Kyoto - Wagashi, motifs des gâteaux Japonais - Elle Décoration

• Mexique - La route du Sisal - Elle décoration

• Indonésie - Lombok et Bali sous les palmes - Côté Sud

• Cachemire - Pashmina, l’étoffe de la foi - Côté Sud

• Ouzbékistan - La route de la brique - Elle Décoration

• Vietnam - Le goût de l’Asie - Madame Figaro

• Inde - Sanganer, Indian Paper - Côté Sud

• Inde - Les Palais de Goa - AD France

• Inde - Valérie Barkowski, Jaipur - Côté Sud

• Inde -décor du Cinéma Tamoul – AD France

• Inde –Jamdani, textile de Calcutta -Elle Décoration

• Japon, Hiroshima – Dominique Kieffer, Épure nippone - AD France

• Mongolie - un campement sous l’infini - AD France

• France, Paris - il Cielo sopra Parigi - Case da Abitare

• États Unis - New York, Joseph Dinard - Case da Abitare

• Australie, de Sydney à Melbourne, le design australien - Elle déco