Beauty will save the world
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
Category
Project Description
L'Atelier Emmaüs is a young social enterprise (2017) belonging to the Emmaüs Movement and dedicated to fighting exclusion by introducing carpentry work.
The apprentice craftsmen are welcomed into an introductory course in craft skills for 30 days.
Designers and interior architects design the furniture and fixtures that are made in our workshop-school in Villeurbanne (Lyon) and then sold.
Whenever possible, the Emmaus workshop uses recycled wood.
Project Region
EU Programme or fund
Description of the project
Summary
L’Atelier Emmaüs is a carpentry workshop-school that fights against exclusion by training people who are unemployed, called “artisans-apprenants” ("apprentice craftsmen"), to the traditional skills of woodworking.
We develop three activities: the realization of custom-made furniture and fittings ("fitting" activity), the manufacturing of furniture and decorative objects in series ("publishing" activity) and the collaborative manufacturing with people from so-called priority neighborhoods ("collaborative manufacturing" activity).
Designers (Ionna Vautrin, Ferréol Babin, Lisa Lejeune, etc..) and interior architects design the furniture and fixtures that are manufactured in our workshop-school.
The economic activity enables the workshop's social impact to be funded.
L’Atelier Emmaüs places particular importance on the use of raw materials from reuse. Thus, 50% of the furnishing activity and 100% of the publishing activity uses recycled materials. These materials come from furniture at the end of its life cycle, carpentry scraps, industrial waste and waste from the construction sector (discarded windows, cladding materials).
We have a privileged partnership with the association Minéka, with whom we form a circular economy cluster within a shared space.
Key objectives for sustainability
A large part of the wood or wood derivatives pieces present in the collected of waste furnishing have the potential to integrate a new ecological value chain: the transformation of this material by human hands is a complementary outcome to industrial recycling as it is less energy consuming and more local.
Today, about 3.5 million m3 of wood are produced each year, and the global demand will continue to grow as the world's population explodes and incomes rise. In a world where resources are limited, it is necessary to make full use of all materials, even after their first life.
Large quantities of wood are discarded and lose their original value (mostly through recycling, but also through energy recovery and landfill).
Through customer-oriented training in the woodworking professions with a strong contemporary design positioning, l’Atelier Emmaüs offers local solutions to the global problem of waste.
Recovering raw materials, avoiding waste and recovering wood without energy-intensive processing.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
Beauty helps to find self-esteem, the environment is important and conducive to regain self-confidence. The process of making furniture by putting people in situations of exclusion at the center while calling on designers and interior architects allows us to have objects with both contemporary aesthetics of today while participating in the inclusion of people far from the professional field. This allows us to bridge the gap between designers and the world of integration. It is also an innovation in the sense that the designer, when he thinks of his object, must integrate the parameter that his creations will be a tool of educational support.
In addition to regaining self-esteem through manual work, we insist on the aesthetic quality of our products which reinforce self-confidence through beauty. The names of the craftsmen learners appear next to those of the designers on our publishing products to further enhance their work.
Our team is made up of professional cabinetmakers, who ensure the quality of the products as proposed by the traditional distribution channels.
For l’Atelier Emmaüs, "beauty will save the world".
Key objectives for inclusion
In France, 8.5 million people live below the poverty line. Among them, there are currently 2.2 million long-term unemployed. In many cases, this situation of prolonged exclusion from the labor market leads to a loss of self-confidence and hinders the will to get out of it.
In the Workshops and Workshops for Integration, the trades categorized as "Art and Works of Art" or "Industry" represent only 2% and 3% of the positions. The solutions deployed today are therefore mainly linked to services (maintenance of green spaces) or to handling / waste sorting / packaging.
By providing training in woodworking skills that is customer-focused and has a strong contemporary design positioning, l’Atelier Emmaüs is able to respond to a more specific issue of social and professional integration in France.
Opening up to the craft industry enable the people in the program to gain self-confidence and project themselves into a profession.
Results in relation to category
In a few figures, l’Atelier Emmaüs carried out 1865 hours of carpentry initiation to people in exclusion in 2020, 1261 hours for the moment in 2021.
Since this year, we measure the kg of reuse material for our construction sites. We are at 4089 kg of reuse for the moment in 2021.
In addition, at the end of the artisan learner's journey, we issue a certificate of competence that has real value on the job market.
How Citizens benefit
L’Atelier Emmaüs is regularly asked to run collaborative manufacturing sessions with young people in priority neighbourhoods. The social landlord's request is as follows: to lead a time around the manufacturing process, open to young people aged 6 to 18 without any prerequisites and using materials from the neighbourhood's rubbish (furniture waste) as a support. These exchange times allow citizens to be involved in the heart of the project.
The aim of l’Atelier Emmaüs is to empower people who are excluded, to give them back the ability to act and thus to help them re-enter society through the professional sphere.
We also have a societal mission to raise awareness. The goal is to make buyers aware of the importance of turning to more sustainable and inclusive modes of consumption.
Innovative character
Atelier Emmaüs’s mission is to fight exclusion by acquiring craft skills, with the dual aim of re-mobilization and professional integration through training. The association works in the field of entrepreneurship through social innovation. The social impact is integrated and supported by the economic activity of the workshop. The entire production responds to an order from a client (individuals, companies, associations). The project manager and the carpenters adapt the manufacturing process so that each order becomes a learning support for the craftsmen-learners, all the while favoring reused materials.
Unlike the integration companies, Atelier Emmaïs has a high ratio of one professional carpenter for one apprentice.
