The world that is coming is the kingdom of confused borders, limits that not so long ago were diaphanous and today are at least blurred.
Who is the farmer and who is the consumer when more and more people start cultivating their land, be it a modest plot in a shared garden, or even just the pot that houses aromatic herbs on the windowsill?
Who is the food distributor and who is the consumer in the face of the rise of cooperative supermarkets, where the customer is both owner and volunteer worker?
There are more and more borders that are blurring.
For example, in France, the company Wecandoo connects people and companies with artisans of all kinds so that, during the time a workshop lasts, customers become creators.
Cultural tourism, which takes you through exhibitions of local authors and invites you to buy some of the exhibits, is no longer enough.
The creative universe of Wecandoo is very wide.
In this workshop you learn to make craft beer. Wecandoo
Today the new fashion is to make the
souvenir
yourself .
It's the classic
Do It Yourself
(DIY) revisited.
We could baptize it as the
Do It With the Craftsman,
Do it with the craftsman, in English.
Nothing else could be expected after the pandemic that locked us up for what seemed like years and cloths.
And during that long sentence we were forced to do everything alone, with ourselves, by hook or by crook.
We have gone from 'Do it Yourself (DIY)', to 'Do it With the Craftsman', do it with the craftsman
Wecandoo makes a play on words, since it sounds like the English phrase that would be translated as "We can do it".
And that is the bet: to turn the spectator, client, consumer of yesteryear into an actor of his consumption and creator of his work.
The initiative was created in 2017 by three young French people, Edouard Eyglunent, Arnaud Tiret and Grégoire Hugon, coming from diverse fields such as hospitality, IT and accounting, but all three confessed passionate about the world of crafts.
Last year Wecandoo generated a turnover of 4.5 million euros.
It has a staff of 33 workers and a network of 1,100 artisans who are part of its virtual community.
Each artisan earned last year an average of 750 euros.
And they are spread throughout France, in 40 cities, and even in Belgium.
Wecandoo has a staff of 33 workers and a network of 1,100 artisans who are part of its virtual community. Wecandoo
Brussels, to cite a specific case, proposes 20 workshops.
The cheapest is to cook cookies as a family for two and a half hours for 30 euros per person together with the cookie artisans Fanny and Cynthia.
The most expensive training amounts to 290 euros per person and allows training in the artisan bakery with yeast thanks to the competition of the artisan baker Alice.
The session lasts two days during which one becomes familiar with the different types of yeast and flour, as well as with the secrets of fermentation.
The workshop options are not limited to gastronomy.
Brussels also proposes to start in herbalism or in urban agriculture;
the creation of centerpieces and floral suspensions;
the dyeing of silk fabrics… In fact, the creative universe of Wecandoo is very broad and is organized according to the following categories: ceramics, gastronomy, textiles, wood, vegetables, leather, jewelry, cosmetics and wellness, metal and stone, paper, glass, terroir and urban agriculture.