Madineurope
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
Category
Project Description
The multilingual portal Madineurope is gathering the European community of crafts and connecting it to the civil society and to professionals like architects, designers, and other stakeholders. It supports the crafts business, the transmission of knowhow to next generations and highlights the richness and diversity of techniques & materials, due to territorial roots and cultures. It’s transversal and digital approach makes crafts closer to people and helps crafts emerge from the crowd.
Project Region
EU Programme or fund
Description of the project
Summary
Http://madineurope.eu brings together a wide community of stakeholders in a virtual common place to improve the visibility and competitiveness of European professionals in the areas of fine & traditional crafts and cultural heritage restoration. It raises awareness about the values these professions carry: strong knowhow and expertise, entrepreneurship, high quality and long-lasting production, circular economy, low waste, local sourcing, self-accomplishment, creativity, innovation, and cultural heritage safeguard. The portal highlights the diversity of opportunities offered by the sector and supports the transmission of knowhow to next generations. The project gathers micro businesses or individual professionals with specific skills in the areas of traditional building, wood crafts, ceramic, stone, glass, textile, painting, metals, to mention only some of them. It relies on digital technology to support these activities, bring innovation to the sector & help micro-businesses to emerge out of the crowd by preserving their identity and territorial roots.
The multilingual portal is self-administrated by its members and moderated by Mad’in Europe. It now gathers more than 1500 professionals from all over Europe, training opportunities, interviews and storytelling, articles, events and any information which can bring visibility and create awareness about the sector. This user-friendly tool helps private consumers, architects, interior designers, retailers, antique dealers, musicians, historic monuments owners, … to find selected craftspeople and discover initiatives, including those based in remote or rural areas. The multilingual keywording system opens the door to the international market which many professionals are not exploring yet.
In addition to this the portal is a source of best practices. It highlights activities by other European stakeholders such as crafts associations, foundations, public and Cultural Heritage players
Key objectives for sustainability
Http://madineurope.eu highlights the sustainable aspects and impact on local economy of crafts professions. Most members of Madineurope have less than 5 employees, are based in remote areas and work in short circuits. The whole production process is under the supervision of the same workshop: purchasing raw materials & tools, transformation, finishing, selling. Craftsmen pay particular attention to materials’ quality and origin, and about the durability and quality of the work they deliver to clients as proof of their professional skills. They can also provide maintenance and repairs. Small production does not allow economy of scale, therefore craftspeople care more about waste and recycling. These data are taken from the profiles of craftsmen gathered on Madineurope but also from a survey that was launched among European craftsmen. According to it, as for materials purchasing criteria, in a scale from 1 to 10, quality has the highest rate (5,95/10) followed by impact on the environment (5,32/10), origin (5,23/10) and, in last position price (4,81/10). 71% respondents are using recycled materials. 59% recognize their work is representative of the local culture and traditions, 39% purchase local materials.
However, from customer’s point of view craftsmanship looks more expensive than mass/industrial production.
The portal aims at highlighting that the extra cost can be compensated by longer durability and less impact on environment. It also wants to upscale the work of professionals and make high-quality products more accessible to everyone. In order to influence consumption habits the portal presents craftsmen, techniques and materials such as : Building with Lime (https://madineurope.eu/en/building-with-lime/, Boveda Catalana (Interview https://madineurope.eu/en/boveda-catalana/ ) cleaning stone without chemicals (https://madineurope.eu/en/profile/diego-marcos-y-rodriguez-3/); using natural pigments (https://madineurope.eu/en/profile/luis-prieto-prieto-3/)
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
Madineurope enhances the impact crafts had and still have in building an aesthetic environment thanks to the influence of local cultures, the great skills of craftspeople and the use of high-quality materials.
The relationship between crafts and aesthetic has roots in each territory’s history. Building, monuments, art pieces and daily life objects are testimonials of European diversity and richness. The aesthetical research is driven by territorial cultures, available materials, people’s habits, daily life, means and needs. Roofs, houses, objects, ornaments, gardens, public monuments, musical instruments, textiles, to mention some, are all examples of how human skills express local cultures and are the mirror of these cultures.
In the last decades, global trends in architecture and design have appeared, materials are sourced from remote regions and needs have changed. Social media and ecommerce influence our way of life and our choices but distance us from roots and territories.
This consumption pattern represents a threat of uniformization within the crafts sector and may endanger the survival of specific techniques, and know-how, with a consequent threat for the European Cultural heritage.
Madineurope aims at highlighting the extraordinary diversity that European craftsmen can express and the beauty of this diversity. Each craft made piece is unique and has its own story. By keeping the capacity to build and create according to cultures and territories, they continue to build future heritage and to keep our intangible heritage alive.
Key objectives for inclusion
Madineurope is a trans-sectorial platform making civil society, professionals and craftspeople closer, wherever they are based. The crafts sector is made of small workshops scattered throughout the territory and often based in rural areas. Even professionals with high skills and long experience represent too small entities to be seen and heard on the global market. Their voice, recommendations, expertise, & know-how are threatened by segmentation and isolation.
Many craftsmen have website and social media, but thousands of websites scattered into the web are not easy to find. Madineurope is grouping profiles “all in one” with the possibility to link each one to craftsmen’s own website and social media. Thanks to an “administrator access” to their profile, craftspeople directly address the audience with presentations, videos, storytelling, images, articles, training offers… With more than 1500 craftspeople, Madineurope gathers more than 1500 different voices, experiences, personal backgrounds. Together they can get out of the crowd, be stronger and contribute to the valorisation of the sector as part of tangible and intangible heritage.
Craftspeople can upload training offers which represent an additional revenue and are an opportunity to learn or specialize in crafts for people already in the sector who want to specialize, for adults who may consider crafts for a career change or for youngsters, including early school leavers, who are facing a career choice.
The portal also helps to solve the language barrier which keeps craftspeople cut from the international market. The keywording system of Madineurope is currently in 4 languages and helps to make each craftsman visible in several countries.
To further support craftsmen, and give the same opportunities to all, the portal provides digital advisory tutorials. Online meetings with groups of craftsmen provide further assistance about how to optimize the profile and create good contents.
Results in relation to category
Madineurope is building a trans-sectorial community to make a change in the crafts sector from an economic, social & cultural point of view. A heritage craft is viable if there are sufficient craftspeople to transmit skills to next generations. There is unfortunately no RED LIST OF ENDANGERED CRAFTS in Europe (see in UK the https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/redlist/categories-of-risk/#extinct). Nevertheless, the sector is in danger in European countries too and needs urgent support.
Madineurope creates bridges between all stakeholders to raise awareness, accelerate businesses growth, & support transmission to young generations. This process requires the involvement of both adults & youngsters. It also requires the involvement of other stakeholders such as architects, designers, associations, institutions & policy makers. The actions and the contents of the portal are focused on this objective and target such a wide audience.
Madineurope provides full information in 4 languages about more than 1500 craftspeople, their professions, with profiles, interviews, articles, descriptions of techniques and materials answering the needs of professionals and private consumers searching for expertise in specific areas, locally but also, in remote areas. It aims to reconnect the visible heritage (buildings, cut-stones, lime walls, turned or carved wood, painted surfaces, mosaics, stained glass, wrought iron, engraved metals, carpentries, stairs, thatched roof to mention some…) to the people who made and continue to build it.
The videos on the portal are strengthening its impact & give the floor to craftsmen for direct storytelling to the audience. More than 30 members already had the occasion to promote their training opportunities to learn or specialise in their workshop. The social media activity & the communication strategy also through partner’s actions drive a diversified target from all over Europe to the portal and disseminate knowledge on crafts
How Citizens benefit
The objective of the portal is to put craftsmen at the centre of the society, including by targeting young generations who have little awareness about crafts. The access & the research on the portal are free and intuitive to make the connection to craftspeople easy for a diversified audience, without other intermediaries. Any single private or professional consumer finding a professional on the portal will deal directly with the craftsmen.
http://madineurope.eu collects information on crafts, techniques, materials and trainings from craftsmen, from associations, architects and designers, organizes it in different sections and makes it available to the civil society. Regular newsletters, online meetings and surveys help to optimize the action of Madineurope by keeping the dialogue with civil society, collecting information and recommendations.
As an example, in a survey among historic houses owners, made with the Eu. Historic Houses association, 93% respondents stated that they consider a transversal platform like Madineurope a useful tool to find craftsmen, 32 % respondents are very interested in sharing best practices with other owners about how to restore their properties, 43% say they have difficulties to find qualified craftsmen, 74% are ready to recommend Madineurope to craftsmen as a good way to be visible and to valorise their skills. This demonstrates that people are interested in knowing more about professions, materials and techniques and are interested in craftsmen’s expertise to evaluate the needs with a Cultural Heritage Preservation focus.
The portal and its functions are occasionally presented to groups of people through webinars, which raise awareness about our collective responsibility towards crafts and are an incentive to put traditional crafts in our daily life, to buy local, take care of quality and long lasting, avoid waste and encourage recycling. The positive impact of these meeting shows the interest of people for crafts
Innovative character
Madineurope is the only transversal platform dedicated to European traditional crafts and directly connecting craftspeople to final consumers such as architects, designers, other professional or private, in several languages. It is also the only where craftsmen can directly promote training offers in their workshop, to an international audience.
Self-administrated by craftspeople with the monitoring of Mad’in Europe team, http://Madineurope.eu, ensures dynamism and reliability of the content. An extended variety of digital contents, presentations, videos, images, interviews, story-telling, articles, events, news, is made available in several languages to target a wide audience.
Madineurope is a reliable source of information and know-how. Only craftspeople answering to specific requirements in terms of experience, business model and profession, are eligible to become members. Each application is submitted to validation procedure.
By collecting information from both, craftspeople, and their audience, Madineurope enriches both targets in knowledge, best practices and practical information thus creating crossed fertilisation and stimulating innovation and competitiveness.
The portal is an easy-to-use and affordable marketing tool for craftspeople who have limited access to digital technologies or are not very friendly with them. Assistant tools such as tutorials and webinars make the portal even more easy to use.
The portal has no territorial barrier, craftsmen can register from all European countries and regions, urban or rural. It represents more than 250 professions from the crafts area.
The transversal approach of Madineurope valorises and reveals the diversity of crafts in each territory, based on traditions, available materials, history and more in general cultural heritage. By connecting people from and to the crafts sector, the portal is a powerful educational tool about European cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible
