France is recognised for the diversity of its creative professions, yet it is seeing some of its excellent expertise becoming rare. Consequently we can ask ourselves why it is disappearing. Why is it essential to retain and value this expertise? What actors and mechanisms are in place to ensure that it is passed on? Although objects' stories may be told in museums, the gesture, which connects the tool with the object, nevertheless remains fragile. Knowledge of the gesture represents a valuable intangible heritage, because it is intimately linked to a person; when they are no longer here, their expertise disappears with them. Appropriate means should therefore be found to ensure it is preserved in the long term. This dissertation studies luggage-making.