PARIS (AFP) ― Francois Lesage, a master embroiderer who for decades crafted exquisite pieces for haute couture giants from Chanel to Yves Saint Laurent, has died aged 82, his workshop said on Thursday.

The doyen of French embroidery, a central figure in the fashion world, died in a hospital near his home in Versailles outside Paris on Wednesday night following a long illness, the Lesage workshop told AFP.

Lesage took over his father’s firm aged just 20. In an interview last year, he told AFP how he met Yves Saint Laurent, Karl Lagerfeld, Jean Paul Gaultier and Christian Lacroix ― his godson ― “when they were just beginners.”

In recent years Lesage could be spotted at Chanel or Lacroix shows, sharing insights with his front-row neighbors on the craftsmanship in the clothes.

“Our role is to be chameleons,” Lesage explained to AFP. “With Karl, I am Karl. With Christian, I am Christian... We receive a sketch and it is up to us to interpret. The couturier is the architect, we are the decorators.”

Last week Lesage was awarded the title of “art master” by the French culture ministry, giving him a chance to “say goodbye”, said a spokeswoman for his workshop, which was acquired by Chanel in 2002.

Born to an embroiderer father and fashion colorist mother, Lesage joked that he was “born on a mound of pearls and glitter”.

“It never occurred to me to do anything else,” he told AFP. “I still sleep in the bedroom where I was born.”

Lesage’s workshop described him as a “passionate figure, full of colour and humour.”

Contacted by AFP, Lagerfeld said he was “deeply saddened” at the loss of a unique artist and “bon viveur”. “He astonished us more than once,” he said.

In 1992 Lesage founded an embroidery school close to his Paris workshop to pass on the craft to the next generation. His work has been exhibited from New York to Tokyo.