As part of Galeries Lafayette's "GO FOR GOOD, for a more responsible fashion" initiative, the off-studio agency presents a manifesto installation made of shredded plastic: the design thus invests the territory of the revalorization of our waste by presenting a manifesto work of art, "On the 7thth continent". Designers take over a polluting material, which is at the heart of the controversy. In a recycling process, they transform and sublimate it to invite us to take a new look at our detritus and awaken our consciences.
RThe work is based on the recycling of industrial plastic waste and scrap and is designed by Elodie Michaud and Rebecca Fezard, the pair of designers at the head of the company. off-studio, creative office tourangeau, specialized in textile design, surfaces and materials. The work "The 7th continent" was carried out as part of the designer's residency at the Certesensand thanks to the support of the company Vincent Recyclage (Langeais) for the shredded plastic.
Elodie Michaud and Rebecca Fezard
This installation is a real manifesto, on display in the window of Galeries Lafayette in Tours until October 10th and created for the department store's national operation, "GO FOR GOOD for more responsible fashion". The work now drifts to Roubaix for the Fashion Tech Dayson October 29th and 30th.
Here, designers are seizing a polluting material, at the heart of the controversy. In a recycling process, they transform and sublimate it to invite us to take a new look at our detritus and awaken our consciences. The work is a suspension of 3m x 1m50 made of crushed and hot agglomerated plastic shavings. Each strip is printed and coloured using the sublimation printing technique.
This work was produced as part of the Certesens designers' residency, which provided the tools, processes and sensory engineering teams for the transformation of materials. With the support of the Vincent Recyclage company, which supplied the shredded plastic chips, Elodie and Rebecca, the duo of designers at the head of the off-studio, gave an emotional second life to these recycled materials.
"The seventh continent." the first work of this designer residency, demonstrates how a designer uses scientific tools and sensory techniques combined with his artistic approach to sustainably innovate in the creation of new materials and objects.
RENEICSENS or the reuse of industrial waste
Certesens initiates a Research and Development programme, RENEICSENS, concerning the reuse of industrial waste and offcuts with sensory technologies. This work is based on the following observation: in a context of increasing raw material shortages and a global energy crisis, the question of waste materials in the creation/design and manufacture of an object in different industrial sectors arises (particularly in the luxury and design sectors).
While industries and designers have long "ignored the shadow of industrial development", as Mr Morin wrote, the relationship has become disproportionate, between the production and creation of an object and the scraps and waste of the materials needed to make it. We can thus see that the volume of falls exceeds that of the object. The final objective of this project is to recycle the offcuts and wastes from industrialists by recomposing the waste materials, with the aim of creating new ones, immediately reusable with new manufacturing and industrialization technologies (additive manufacturing in particular). This leads to a new generation of sensory upgraded products.
It is within this framework that Certesens hosts residencies for artists and designers in order to carry out research parallel to its own for new materials and upgraded products. This work, which combines scientific and creative approaches, has made it possible to increase knowledge and open up new opportunities for development. It is within this framework that Certesens welcomed the agency Hors-Studio and its "7th continent" and Alexandra Riss, visual artist, and her work "Hippocampe" (this last residency was carried out as part of the "Residences in companies" of the Ministry of Culture.
To date, RENEICSENS' ambition is to pool resources and knowledge with the structuring of a collaborative pilot unit and the creation of a dedicated research group made up of companies, institutions, competitiveness clusters, associations, researchers, engineers and creators in order to instil a collaborative and value-creating dynamic. Certesens opens its working group to motivated projects and initiatives.
The GO FOR GOOD initiative for more responsible fashion
For 120 years Galeries Lafayette has chosen to select the best of creation, vibrating with society to capture the spirit of the times. But the air of the times has become heavier. Fashion, at the heart of this identity, has become one of the most polluting industries in the world. Ever more accessible, abundant and fast, its trade sometimes has undesirable social and environmental consequences.
For Galeries Lafayette, this reality is not a foregone conclusion, having led a responsible transition within the company for several years. By launching the Go for Good initiative, the brand is determined to offer fairer and more sustainable products throughout France and in all categories.
It is a collective and determined approach that brings together nearly 500 brands and partners. It is also a set of events and concrete actions in favour of new forms of production and consumption. Go for Good is the movement of those who combine the search for style with the search for meaning.
Go for Good is a relational, creative and committed movement in the service of a more responsible business. This initiative aims to accelerate the positive actions of Galeries Lafayette and its community of brand partners who are working to transform the business and are committed to progress. Promoting creation for the common good, this initiative responds to the growing quest for meaning and transparency demanded by customers and gives concrete expression to the new positioning of the brand, whose mission is to make Beauty, Goodness and Goodness accessible to as many people as possible.
This approach was therefore brought to life through an event that took place from August 29 to October 10, 2018, reinventing the experience of the entire Galeries Lafayette store network, and sponsored by a leading designer and ambassador for responsible fashion around the world: Stella McCartney.
Galeries Lafayette has always been positioned as a place of gathering, emotion and exchange in the heart of the city, and has therefore proposed a unique event system with themed conferences, events and awareness-raising operations, and the deployment of new clothing rental, repair and recycling services. In addition to pop-ups dedicated to her brand and an exclusive capsule collection, Stella McCartney offered an immersion in the world of meditation in the Galerie des Galeries' cultural space, entitled "The Art of Meditation". Century of Stillness.
True to its role as a "house of brands" and a trendsetter, Galeries Lafayette has selected products - from its own brands, from other brands in the group, and from nearly 500 other participating brands - from the worlds of fashion and accessories, beauty, home, jewellery and gastronomy. This selection, reconciling style and responsibility, is based on specifications that identify products that offer significant benefits compared to traditional production in terms of the environment, social development or support for French manufacturing.
In all stores, these selection criteria are highlighted on the sales areas of the brands participating in the movement, in a desire to educate and share with customers.
Beyond this commercial event, the Go for Good movement wants to translate Galeries Lafayette's long-standing commitment to sustainable development on a large scale. A strategy driven at the highest level by the Group makes it possible to address all the issues relating to corporate social responsibility, ecological transition and sustainable fashion, with the ambition of becoming a global benchmark for French-style trade that is both ethical and responsible.
"The 7th continent" will be on display during the 2 days of the event Fashion Tech Days in Roubaix (59), on October 29th and 30th, and off-studio will take part in the round table on "The materials revolution" on Tuesday, October 30th at 3pm, hosted by Julie Pont from ModeLab.
The Certesens laboratory, also present at the Fashion Tech Days, will participate in the "Luxury and generation Z" conference on Tuesday 30 October at 10.30 am.
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