TALM School of Art and Design is launching an innovative technical workshop that uses production scraps from companies while measuring the carbon footprint of its creations

In 2023, the TALM School of Art and Design established a workshop dedicated to repurposing industrial and artisanal scraps, open to students and the general public. Located in Le Mans, Precious Kitchen

Located in the former Maillets community center in Le Mans, it houses a resource center, an experimental workshop, a storage area, and an exhibition space.  Made available to students as part of their classes and personal projects, it is also intended for individuals, school groups, and community organizations. 

A space dedicated to upcycling scraps 

Designed in partnership with the Precious Kitchen association, this project enabled the creation of a technical workshop dedicated to repurposing local industrial and artisanal material scraps for artistic creation.  

The Chutothèque embodies a circular economy approach in the cultural sector by sourcing, transporting, and transforming these materials deemed useless and cumbersome.  The goal is to reduce the environmental impact of art and design schools, encourage innovative creative approaches, and explore post-carbon aesthetic and economic perspectives.

TALM was selected in the summer of 2022 for its Precious Kitchen project  – The TALM Chutothèque, from the call for projects Supporting Green Alternatives under the France 2030 program led by the French government and operated by the Banque des Territoires 

CRRAP-TALM, Carbon Simulator for Resource Reuse in the Visual Arts 

A study of the workshop’s environmental impact, aimed at creating monitoring and evaluation tools, was launched in the fall of 2023. 

This study gave rise to SCRRAP-TALM—Carbon Simulator for Resource Reuse in the Visual Arts—an open-source software program developed by TALM.  This software measures the environmental impact of the Chutothèque by taking into account all emission sources (from transportation to types of materials, waste and scrap generated, energy consumption of production machinery, etc.).  It ultimately allows for the production of a detailed carbon footprint assessment of the workshop.

This tool is already available free of charge to all workshops, cultural and artistic production and performance venues, resource centers, schools, associations, and other institutions interested in knowing their carbon footprint.