The two dreams that gave birth to this project
I
Fight against the planned obsolescence of objects quickly purchased, quickly discarded. We attach ourselves to our objects, whether it is a garment, a bike, a lamp or a teddy bear. It is often simple and fast to repair them, to improve them, to continue our journey together!
II
Give or give back to each one of us the pride of knowing how to do by ourselves. We are a generation of intellectual trades, and we often feel helpless when it is necessary to manufacture, repair, renovate with our hands. But once we overcome the initial fear, the pleasure we have when we make a piece of furniture and the pride of looking at it every day is immense!
The resulting commitments
Ecology
In the big ideas as in the details of everyday life: recovery of fabric and wood scraps, repair of our tools, sale of hardware items to the unit, workshops around zero-waste.
Kindness
Because to say that we welcome beginners and amateurs is also to say that at Les Affûtés, there is no silly question, no unforgivable mistake. We are all here to learn, and to help each other along this path.
Fun
Because having values doesn’t mean we have to be sad: we’re all here to have a good time, have fun discovering new skills, enjoy talking with each other over a coffee…
Diversity
The discoveries we make come from the diversity of the people we meet. At Les Affûtés, you’ll meet people of all ages, all genres, all levels, and all opinions.
Honesty
If you can do it cheaper otherwise, or if we’re not in the best position to help you, we’ll tell you, because it’s essential for us to know that we helped someone the best we could.
Participation
We cannot want to change habits without being open to requests and ideas. This project is built with the ideas of all, from the next workshop to organize to the place decoration or the tools available.
Proud to be a B Corp
At Les Affûtés, it was a priority for us to be part of this beautiful community of B Corps, to get involved in building more virtuous models for tomorrow.
Michael, the founder
I discovered my hands not so long ago, in 2016, when I started working with wood. Like all of us today, I did not know how to do much (and I still do not know much …).
But to begin gave me pride and self-confidence that I didn’t know I had. And that’s what led me to create this project.
I’m always at les Affûtés, so you’ll probably find me easily enough to discuss projects, machines, learning, and Earl Gray tea!
Help les Affûtés project
Les Affûtés is still a very young project, which is being built every day. Many people come to us with the desire to support our fight, and that encourages us hugely.
Do you want to support us? There are many ways to do this:
- Equipment (wood, hardware) or tools that you don’t use
- Skills you want to share with beginners
- Good contacts to get the project known around you
- And probably many other ways!
Be welcome in all cases, we are happy to welcome all energies!
