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Make yourself a leather bag, a knife, a perfume or pretzels, this is the offer of a group of craftsmen

Would you like to learn about tapestry, create a kimono, a leather bag, a knife, a perfume, a book, make your own pretzels or learn how to make your honey? Artists and artisans offer discovery workshops where you learn to make these dreams come true.

It is like a mysterious door which opens. For a few tens of Euros, you can learn how to make handmade objects or how to make a dish, which you thought until then reserved only for artists and craftsmen. It will take you from a few hours to two days. An idea born in 2017, from the envy of three people who wanted to “do something for craftsmen”. Edouard, Grégoire and Arnaud did not come from the craft industry, but they decided to put their skills (business, IT and management) at the service of craftsmen.

They therefore set off to meet around a hundred artisans across France, to ask them this simple question: “What do you need ?“The answer was unanimous:”We need to sell our products and make customers understand the value of our fabrications, the time and the material it takes to create something handmade.“. This is how the company was born Wecandoo and the creation of workshops accessible to the public. A bridge between artisans and citizens.

“This initiative allows artisans to share their know-how and the value of their achievements, but also represents additional income, in addition to their production activity.”

-Camille Labadie, communication manager of Wecandoo

Workshops to discover in Alsace

Forge a knife with an artisan blacksmith cutler in Munster, develop an artisan gin with a distiller in Sainte Croix en Plaine, create a leather tote bag with a leather craftsman in Westhoffen, make a strip of wallpaper with a Dominican artisan in Strasbourg … In Alsace, the list of your desires for discovery can be long because sixty-two craftsmen have decided to be part of this platform of workshops open to the public.

Make your own jewelry

Make your own jewelry

© Wecandoo

Craftsman in his workshop
Craftsman in his workshop

Craftsman in his workshop

© Wecandoo

These workshops are open to everyone, from 7 to 77 years old and can be booked online (the minimum age to participate is specified). The maximum number of participants for each workshop has been reduced, in order to respect the safety distances. Hydroalcoholic gel or soap is provided, the mask is compulsory, and the distances are respected. So if you want make your kimono in Strasbourg, restore an industrial headquarters in Marlenheim, create your eco-responsible lamp in Koenigshoffen, you initiate to leather goods in Riquewihr, or distill your gin on a still in Colmar among others, get started, you might be surprised by what you can do with your ten fingers.

Additional income for artisans

For artisans, it is a way of sharing their know-how, sometimes of really passing it on, in the event that a trainee really clicks, but it is also a way of increasing their income. These workshops, which require investment and effort from men and women who embark on the adventure, allow them to earn between 800 and 1000 euros per month for some. Each month new workshops are put online. Interested artisans can register on the platform and their activity will be studied to see if it is possible that it in turn becomes a workshop for discovery and training for the public. “More than twenty people from a dedicated team are focused on opening workshops across the whole of France. They go out to meet craftsmen, study their available space, ensure the quality of products and set up a manufacturing process.“explains Camille Labadie. Today, there are workshops training courses in more than 16 cities in France and Alsace is very well off.

Today the collective brings together more than 800 artisans in France, who offer more than 1,200 workshops in various skills. Are you in Alsace and free on the following dates? Sign up!

Saturday January 2> Create your own handmade soap Develop a tailor-made perfume Make a kokedama

Wednesday January 6> Make an eau de toilette

Thursday January 7> Restore an industrial headquarters

Friday January 8> Make a bell in dried flowers

Saturday January 9> Learn about the potter’s wheel

Sunday January 10> Make a silver wire ring

Monday January 11> 2 days of immersion to forge a knife

Tuesday January 12> Make a silver wire ring – Making pretzels

Wednesday January 13> 2 days of immersion to forge a knife – Making a metal bottle opener

Thursday January 14> Create a custom belt

Saturday January 16> Making a metal bottle opener> Screen printing a complete project > Roasting a specialty coffee > Learn about the potter’s wheel> Create handmade soap> Make gyozas> Make pretzels

Sunday January 17> Create an artisanal soap

Tuesday January 29: Create a kokedama

Wednesday January 30: Develop a tailor-made perfume

The Wecandoo company is always looking for new talents to share and is now working to discover the terroirs, meeting producers, ostrich or sheep breeders, for example. The same objective: to explain their work and again, why not, possibly allow retraining.

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