La Souplothèque is a Recuperatheque specializing in flexible materials. This is a second-hand materials store that makes local resources available. It works with its own currency: the wind. The interest of the project is to reduce the production of waste, to promote innovation through reuse, to avoid cluttering spaces and to create social ties.
Local
Belgium
Brussels Capital
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Cycl.one ASBL Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Elfie Last name of representative: Poiré Age: 29 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Gender: Female Nationality: France Function: co-founder Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: 144 rue du monténégro Town: Forest Postal code: 1190 Country: Belgium Direct Tel:+33760553597 E-mail:collectif.cycl.one@gmail.com Website:https://souplo.hicham.party/
La Souplothèque is a Recuperatheque (a Recuperatheque is a collaborative store of re-used materials) specialising in flexible materials. Based in Forest, in the Brussels capital region, it was founded in December 2021 by Cycl.one, a collective of textile designers, visual artists and stylists. (Appendix n°1) It is a second-hand materials shop that makes local resources available. By reintegrating waste materials into the re-use loop, the Souplothèque gives a second life to materials considered as waste by companies, factories or individuals.
It operates with its own currency: the wind. In order to benefit from available materials, new members can join with an open participation fee and are entitled to 30 winds. Based on a system of exchange, there are several ways to recover winds. Members can deposit flexible materials which are then sorted, weighed, repackaged and put back into the shop. Members can also help with the operation of the Recuperatheque during a shift or offer their skills that could be useful to the project such as photography, creation of a website, transport of materials...
The price of the material is defined according to several standards depending on its worth, its condition, its size and the time required for rehabilitation. All materials are appropriate for donation as long as the notion of flexibility comes into play, so we are open to various materials that are not yet present in the shop.
Through its action, La souplothèque invites us to rethink our mode of consumption and our vision of re-use both on an individual and collective scale via the cultural and creative sector.
Flexible materials
Re-use
Social design
Circular
Creativity
To support the design of a sustainable society, the Souplothèque has designed its concept with the three pillars of sustainability at its core: economy, environment and social equity.
Its aim is to revalue obsolete/abandoned flexible materials in the linear economic model. In this way, we extend their life span by putting them into a circular logic. Each material redistributed by the Souplothèque is a material that is not created, but repurposed. Each member is therefore responsible for a reduction in pollution in line with his or her reuse capacity.
Currently, the Souplothèque sources some of these materials from the waste produced by industries. We aim to develop a service which guides them towards more conscious methods of production. In the long run, this solution will indirectly finance the work done by the members. In this way, the producers would pay the full price of a material from its production to its redistribution.
The Souplothèque is a place designed and run by its users. Just like the plurality of materials, the diversity of the Souplothèque's members, users and participants is an extraordinary potential for wealth, sharing and creativity.
Individual membership is subject to an open annual participation fee. In order to make our economic model more accessible and sustainable, we have chosen to progressively develop profitable partnerships with institutions as well as social and cultural actors. These include municipalities, cultural centers, schools, student and teacher unions or other social aid centers that are in charge of disadvantaged people or those who require our services. In practice, each institution pays a monthly or annual fee, making membership free for its beneficiaries. The objective is that our sustainability is linked to our establishment in an ecosystem of established actors while reaching a diverse public not yet aware of the notion of sustainability and re-use.
The specialisation of the Souplothèque and the field of expertise of the members favor a feeling of belonging to a community of actors in the field of re-use. Together, we share the experience of a place of technical advice and creative support that is constantly evolving and reinventing itself during the opening weekdays. The Souplothèque is not just a stock of materials made available to a user, but also a space for reflection where the fields of the textile and cultural sector meet and exchange ideas about their projects.
The varied and accessible proposal of products made available by the Recuperatheque opens up a new imaginary culture of the textile sector. In fact it does not only propose fabric or thread but a wider choice on the notion of flexibility.
Re-use allows the cultural dimensions of materials to be preserved: their heritage value, the emotions they arouse, the social values they embody and the skills they evoke.
The identity of the materials deposited by individuals tells a singular story, while the items from companies and industries are related to fields and sectors of activity. This reflection on the origin of materials is part of the values we share with our members.
Sharing the history of materials between members allows us to preserve the qualities of an item that has already been used, even if it means that it can be put to a less demanding use than its original purpose. For example, a used hemp rope that no longer meets the safety standards of a Brussels theater carries the imprint of its application; it can no longer be used as such, but an artist can exploit its mechanical and aesthetic qualities within an installation in the space.
The real and digital communication of the Souplothèque conveys a sensory expression of the quality of the materials through precise terms line, mass, surface. The experience of the sensitive material (touch, sound or sight) is offered in a cooperative way to the members, through the use of asmr and video.
The Souplothèque is a participatory tool accessible to people who share the values of the project: creativity, reuse and more conscious consumption.
Its location in Brussels capital region makes it easily accessible. This location is possible thanks to Communa, a non-profit organisation that facilitates transitional urbanism with a social purpose, thereby providing us with a space. (Appx n°2) In these temporary occupations such as Maxima, which hosts 78 projects, Communa initiates accommodation solutions and allows the emergence of projects of collective interest by making them live together under the same roof. Thus, our establishment in Maxima enriches our intra-community network with a variety of materials.
Furthermore, to become a member of the project the participation is based on an open participation fee that can be adapted to everyone. The fictitious currency of the Souplothèque is based on a socio-economic equality allowing a fairness between the members where purchasing power does not affect the possibility to acquire a material.
Participation in the project is possible on several levels such as giving time, proposing new materials or even a qualification that could help the project.
Additionally, our current digital communication is based on a sound and visual experience: ASMR.(Appx n°3) Its use creates a new sensory language, breaking the language barrier. After one year of existence we have noticed that the majority of our members are between 18 and 40 years old. Following an article in the newspaper Le Soir, we have had older members. So we want to communicate the project in a real way, in newspapers or posters, to reach another audience.(Appx n°4)
Finally, our indirect impact allows us to reach more people. Indeed, local associations buy from us for their manual activities. Their target audiences are different from ours and benefit from the services of the Souplothèque. Thus, we begin to feel the impact through increased weekly attendance
Members have an impact on the materials in the shop. On one hand, their material inputs, sometimes unreleased, enrich and diversify the library of the Flexible. In this way, they contribute to the very definition of flexibility that we are designing. (Appx n°5)
On the other hand, they issue requests for specific materials which are taken into account in the survey of suppliers and sources of deposits. They participate actively in the decisions taken by the association, and benefit from a stock in their image which fluctuates according to their needs. The requests thus grouped together (in the image of a LFD Local Food Directory) also allow an optimisation in the search for flexible materials, an innovative approach in this sector.
The creation of digital communication by ASMR broadens the conception, the idea of a material. We therefore invite our members to visual and sound recording sessions. After working with members, we want to co-develop discussions on re-use and flexible materials and broadcast them as podcasts.
We disseminate the creations of the materials in the souplothèque, whether they are created by our artists' collective or by our members, in order to transmit the possibilities of techniques and transformations of the same material. Documenting and disseminating projects is a way of promoting and democratising re-use. It creates examples that can encourage and reassure people who want to take steps involving re-use.(Appx n°6)
A member can participate in the project by getting physically involved but also by offering his or her skills to enhance the project. The website is created by a member developer to simplify our digital operation. (Appx n°7)
We would like to move towards participative governance where our members would take part in decisions, for example by submitting additional opening hours to them. Indeed, after one year of opening every Thursday, we noticed that some users were asking for an additional opening time.
Initially Cycl.one created the Souplothèque based on its own needs for the supply of materials through the pooling of recovery plans and the establishment of a collective stock which was then opened to the public.
The Souplothèque is registered with the federation of Recuperatheque. That means, our concept is based on the model of the Recuperatheques which was initially conceived to exist in art schools.
This association has been with us since the conception of the organisation. It organises visits between Recuperatheques and provides open-source management tools that encourage mutual aid and autonomy. Being part of this community is a strength and gives us visibility on a European scale. (Appx n°8)
La Communa was the first actor to support our project by making a place available to us: Maxima. This association provides us with a local opening and incorporates us into a European network of actors in temporary occupation.
Cycl.one is following a training course with Coop City in social and sustainable entrepreneurship. This training contributes to our development in building economic viability, and offers us collective intelligence tools that facilitate our shared governance.
This training opens our network to other local social and sustainable initiatives.
We work with the citizen service in the framework of their "climate training". This partnership contributes to the dissemination of our activity on a national scale through a community of young volunteers active in various projects with a social aim. (Appx n°9)
From time to time, we offer our members participative workshops for the treatment of resources, such as their cleaning, transformation or reconditioning, as well as for the creation of immersive installations. (Appx n°10)
In-house skills:
As artists, textile designers and fashion designers, our expertise in the qualities of materials and their transformation in different fields of application (fashion, design, interior design, scenography) allows us to advise members, accompany them and listen to them. We put our pedagogical skills at their service during opening weekdays, as well as by offering specific documentation on our dissemination channels.
Photography and video are essential tools that allow us to document our activities and the resources we process, and to stimulate creativity and innovation in re-use.
The creation of continuity is an important aspect in the valorisation of reused materials. Thus we make the qualities and performance properties of materials visible and suggest potential applications.
By sharing material transformation techniques we empower our members in their projects.
We train our collective in the field of social and sustainable entrepreneurship in order to structure our offer, help us collaborate with actors with common values, and find economic viability.
Outside skills:
The Souplothèque is a cooperative structure that solicits the skills of each member. The tasks carried out are then paid for in winds according to an hourly rate (/16 winds per hour).
We are working with a web developer who is setting up an online platform to facilitate our transactions, make our stock visible through an online catalogue, and plan the tasks carried out by volunteer members.
Within the network of Recuperatheques, the Souplothèque is the first to specialise in flexible materials. This specialisation corresponds to our fields of knowledge and allows us to offer beneficiaries expertise in the service of their project.
The constitution of this selection of materials is innovative. We have chosen to focus on flexible materials rather than textiles in order to push the limits of material use. By basing ourselves on a property of materials (flexibility) rather than on their fields of application, we stimulate creativity. In the same space, a lace is placed next to a lifting strap, linoleum, etc. This fluidity of circulation between disciplines makes it easier to create bridges between sectors and to encourage new material associations.
As mentioned previously (citizen benefits question), members have an impact on the materials in the shop. This active participation at different levels (personal materials inputs, prospecting requests) introduces an innovative dynamic in our development. Just as our stock changes according to the flow of materials and people, the users also adapt to this constant change. It is a laboratory where we question together the regularity of resources and the adaptability to their fluctuations.
We unclutter spaces without making a difference between the space of a private individual or a structure. Offering the same service at different scales allows us to reduce the gap between these entities and to confront them.
We pay particular attention to the history of materials, the stories that are passed on or told to us. This sensitivity makes the souplothèque a shop that gives pride of place to the experience of materials, their ageing and their imperfections. Through podcasts and events, we want to take this stance on materials further: to consider the wear and tear of a material as an added value that leads the recipient to a lasting relationship with it.
Through our membership of the federation of Recuperatheques, we are already part of a chain of reproducibility, their objective being to spread the Recuperatheque model to all art schools and creative communities. In this renewable dynamic, we have developed our specificity, flexibility, as well as new tools and new knowledge that can be easily transmitted. Our concept, the specialisation on flexibility, is reproducible as well as the fact of focusing on a quality of material, for example the hard, the consumable.
During the ROAR 2021, (Official Annual Meeting of Recuperatheques) we helped the SuperFaktur, the belgium Recuperatheque, to set up their textile center. This was also an opportunity to pass on our specific knowledge of flexible materials. (Appx n°11)
At the moment, we have two requests to set up a Souplotheque. One from a textile section in-the-making in a Belgian art school, the ERG. Another from Plateaux Urbains (based in France), a transitional urban planning cooperative that makes vacant spaces available to cultural, associative and social economy actors. (Appx n°12)
We also communicate on our ways of reconditioning the material. Once the information has been digested, everyone has access to techniques that can be re-used in their own projects, such as cutting up inner tubes with a pasta machine, or cutting up foam with a meat knife. These techniques utilise easy-to-use tools that can be found at home. (Appx n°13)
In order to achieve this reproducibility, we have considered the transmission of our working and management methodology, tools and materials database through the website which will be open-source. In addition to working on-site to help create new departments, we will provide them a turnkey computer tool that will facilitate their development.
The re-use of a material makes it possible to short-circuit his original trajectory for a new life cycle that has a significant environmental impact. Indeed, the textile industry is one of the most polluting and water-intensive (cultivation, transformation, production phases). Re-use limits the pressure on resources, as well as saving environmental costs linked to production (energy consumption, polluting substances). Extending the life of an element through new uses is a way of conserving the energy produced.
Through a non-pyramidal structure based on collective intelligence, the Souplothèque promotes an economic model based on shared governance and exchange within its community. Faced with social isolation and the rise of digital technology, this cooperative space is a physical place of learning and advice.
The ultra-local currency used in the shop promotes socio-economic equality between members. Giving a price makes it possible to value waste and increase local exchanges.
The project acts locally by centralising the production waste of industries, institutions and individuals. The creation of a dedicated space avoids and makes visible the cluttering of spaces. The notion of exchange makes it possible to raise awareness of our current mode of consumption and our vision of waste, as one person's waste may not be another's.
Currently, the products consumed in the world carry a price that does not correspond to their real cost because it does not include their end of life. The life of the material should be considered not as a straight line but as a circle. For example, a sheet bought at 5.99 euros in low cost retail will at best end up in a collection bubble set up by a social actor and will be distributed locally, at worst it will be sent back, burnt or buried. The aim of the Souplothèque is to create methods so that flexible waste is no longer considered as such, and that in the long run production takes into account the end-of-life cost of materials.
