brouette

This project involved two Esad Saint-Étienne graduates and four joinery apprentices from the BTP CFA Loire training centre working on the notion of resources. Starting with a collection of offcuts of local woods provided by the Montmartin sawmill, they designed, made and put a wheelbarrow into use.

A tool bearing witness to the history of technology, a symbol of the dialogue between thought and hand, the wheelbarrow is a hybrid object, one that falls between sculpture and tool and answers questions on weight, tension, gravity and balance. By adopting industry standards, the conversion from a metal object to a wooden version imposes other constraints. It is by exploring these possibilities and limits that the shape of wheelbarrow is adjusted. Wood, as a living material, carries in it the time and memory of the felled trees, offering a reflection on disappearance and the void that is left.

The wheelbarrow has been performed and filmed in the public space, from the place where it was designed and made to the place where it is exhibited, the Cité du design. This itinerary, filling the void in the wheelbarrow with the discussions it will generate questions and reorganises the status and value of this object. The entire project is documented in a book, produced out of a joint desire to put the story into circulation.

Project conducted by Émilie Perotto and Marion Zelnik with Charlotte Maucourt, Arthur Mayol, Cécile Poulat, Marcos Rusas, Manon Vallery, Rémi Galimard and Sara Villa.

Project produced in partnership with the BTP CFA Loire and with the support of Fibois42, the Montmartin sawmill and the Béal joinery.