You are Camille Auriol, 41, head of the innovation studio at Maison Lumière, a 134-year-old maker of cast-iron cookware in Lyon. This morning, 14 September 2026, the board set your proposal aside in under four minutes. By early tomorrow you have to choose the brief your team will pursue for the next 21 days.
The situation
Maison Lumière sells enamelled cast-iron cookware in 38 countries: €410 million of sales in 2025, a 9% EBIT margin and 1,850 employees. Its flagship, the Cocotte Classique, once made up 31% of sales. For four years its unit sales have fallen 6% a year, as younger buyers move to light, induction-friendly pans from digital-native brands. At this rate the Cocotte will drop below 20% of sales within three years, taking roughly €25 million of contribution with it.
Your proposal, "Cocotte 2027", was a lighter lid and a new colour range. The chief executive, who created the studio in 2023 and could close it just as easily, has given you a different assignment: bring back something the market would call impossible, and prove the studio can ship it. You have 21 days, a working budget of €180,000 and twelve minutes in front of the board and two outside investors. At stake are the studio's €3.2 million annual budget and its 22 jobs.
Two rival brands are rumoured to launch "smart" induction cookware in about nine months, and retail buyers warn that another cosmetic update will cost 15% of shelf facings. The board chair, from the founding family, has said publicly that Maison Lumière has not discontinued a single product in 134 years and does not intend to start now.