Our Mission Statement
Our Mission Statement
To promote and democratize Quebec's fine crafts by disseminating the works and products of local professional craftspeople.
Our vision
Adapt to new challenges and pass on our knowledge to new members to ensure the cooperative's sustainability and thus continue to disseminate our local crafts.
Our values
Collaboration - dedication - diversity - surpassing oneself - solidarity
"Creating a producers' co-operative was a way for all the founding craftspeople to create a gallery-shop in our image and also to provide a place where we could learn from each other and develop both collectively and individually. »
- Chantal Auger, ceramist and founding member of l'Empreinte coopérative.
For 45 years, the activities of the Empreinte coopérative have been guided by this desire to provide Quebec's artisanal milieu with a quality showcase. Founded on April 27, 1974, the cooperative is recognized as a pioneer in the field of fine crafts. Not only because of its longevity, as one of the oldest existing boutique-galleries in Quebec specializing in the products of local creators, but also because it is one of the rare businesses of its kind to be self-managed by its members. Over the past 45 years, more than 270 members have overseen the growth of the Empreinte and its influence through a management method in which members are both artisans and creators and collective entrepreneurs. We are united in our desire to cooperate, to provide better services and to act democratically on business development.