For the last two years, Fab City Grand Paris has been working with its members to develop and support new skills linked to the ecological transition and the local production. This enables the organisation to offer specific training courses from a multi-disciplinary point of view, building bridges between the various Fab City stakeholders.

From February to June 2023, the second edition of Circular Making was held, a training course at the crossroads of technology, craftsmanship and eco-design, to train tomorrow’s professionals in advanced digital manufacturing and circular economy jobs.

The Circular Making training is a 4-month course designed to help future professionals to adopt a more responsible approach to their creative work: design, choice of materials and suppliers, environmental performance, re-use and transformation processes, life cycle, distribution channels. It offers a theoretical approach to eco-design, immersion in the very heart of the circular economy, technical training in digital manufacturing and support in building a future professional project.

The training is divided into three phases, focusing on eco-design and digital craftsmanship:

1 | Circular economy and eco-design

In order to understand the challenges of the circular economy, the course includes two introductory modules on the concepts of the circular economy, local and industrial ecology, eco-design and sustainable development.

2 | Craft and digital manufacturing

Acquisition of knowledge and skills relating to the various transformation and materials processes with a focus on reuse, and technical skills in digital design and manufacture with an eco-design perspective.

3 | Doing and immersion

Mentors work with the learners on their professional immersion project, helping them to plan ahead while offering them educational support throughout the programme.

Project example

Patrick Dubois questioned the manufacture of the Valovi chair, one of the most downloaded models in the world, using reused materials.

Project example

Sandrine Brunel and Elise Longcamp have reused bed frame slats, wood panel scraps and advertising tarpaulins from the Maison&Objet fair. Their aim: to build a shopping trailer and a protective tarpaulin.

Project example

Joanna Lancien used the expertise she developed during the training to build a van with 100% re-used materials, and set off on a tour of Europe to meet the people who fight plastic pollution on a daily basis: those who collect waste, those who transform it, and also those who raise awareness of the need to reduce it.