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New European Bauhaus
Project

Beauty will save the world

A French collaborative woodworking venture.

Beauty will save the world
Beauty will save the world
© European Union, 2021

"Beauty will save the world."

A bold claim and the project's name of L'Atelier Emmaüs, a French collaborative woodworking venture. 

The Emmaüs movement's young social enterprise since 2017 is dedicated to combating exclusion by introducing carpentry jobs to jobless folks.

The proposal is part of the 2021 New European Bauhaus award prizes' submissions in the category of "Products and lifestyle."

"Beauty will save the world," train apprentices, known as "artisans-apprenants" ("apprentice craftspeople"), who are welcomed into a 30-day introductory training focused on craft skills.

The crew is made up of skilled cabinetmakers who verify that the items meet the standards set by established distribution channels.

Designers and interior architects create the furniture and fixtures previously manufactured in their workshop-school in Villeurbanne (Lyon) and then sell them. The Emmaus workshop employs repurposed wood, such as lumber, whenever possible.

A large portion of the wood or wood derivatives pieces in the collected waste furnishing has the potential to integrate a new ecological value chain: the transformation of this material by human hands is a complementary outcome to industrial recycling because it consumes less energy.

Thus, recycled materials are used in 50% of the furnishing and 100% of the publishing activities.

These materials are derived from furniture nearing the end of its life cycle, carpentry scraps, industrial refuse, and construction rubbish (discarded windows, cladding materials, etc).

l'Atelier Emmaüs provides local solutions to the global waste problem through customer-oriented training in the woodworking professions and robust contemporary design orientation.

Recovery of raw materials, reduction of waste, and recovery of wood without the use of energy-intensive processing.
The atelier's atmosphere is critical for regaining self-confidence.

Putting people in exclusion at the heart of furniture design lets designers and architects develop sustainable goods with contemporary aesthetics while making the workplace more inclusive. 

📸 © European Union