Aliénor Morvan is invited by the Centre d’art contemporain d’Ivry - le Crédac to create a design workshop and to work with a class of CE2 students (Year 3 or 3rd Grade) from the Orme au Chat elementary school, from January to June 2016. The aim is to create a composter for the schoolyard, designed according to the uses of these young students. Entitled loop (in reference to the cyclical nature of composting) and based on the observation that an Ivryan produces an average of 330kg of trash each year, the project leads the pupils to question the treatment and the future of our waste, citizen practices such as shared gardens, as well as the innovative reuse of objects. Together with the designer, they explore the history of design and the specificities of this profession. The work process combines a critical study of an existing composter (the wooden model provided by the city of Ivry), the creation of drawings and models, photographic exploration, etc. The designers are also able to explore the history of design and the specificities of this profession.
During the workshop, the students meet Stéphane Prat, deputy mayor in charge of urban ecology and the climate-energy plan, for an interview focusing on the role of the elected representative and on ecology in Ivry. Nadine Chaya and Sophie Delage, sorting facilitators from the town’s Environment Department, also help the class with composting training. This stage led to the production of silk-screen printed tea towels with composting instructions drawn by the children.
The designers’ collective Maximum, composed of Basile de Gaulle, Romée de la Bigne and Armand Bernoud, whose workshop is located near the school, contributed their many skills to make the composter. Their approach consists in exploiting materials and waste from French industries to make furniture. Using specifications provided by the students, they made the object from plastic recovered from an industrial company, poured onto a plaster mould. The composter takes place in the school yard in the garden maintained by the classes, their families and teachers on Saturday morning. This project is supported by the 3rd district of National Education in Val-de-Marne.