Emmaus Boutique

Project Type: interior, partnership with non-profit organization
Location: Paris, France
Scope: Furniture Design
Project Team: Marie and Keith Zawistowski, with the participation Association Emmaüs Alternatives
Completion Date: April 2005

The Thrift Store is the first prototype of an organizational and branding concept intended to be applied to the four other thrift stores of the non-profit association who collects and redistributes used clothing. The aim of the project was to design a system, which used the association’s surplus material resources and could be assembled with the participation of people in job their socialization and job retraining programs.

The interior of the building is wrapped in fabric panels of gradually changing colors, made with fabric reclaimed from old clothes, too worn-out to be sold or donated. These panels are supported by a structure of plumbing pipes and fittings, which also create a modular system of shelves and racks. This simple concept allows the association to dress the spaces and to install the elements they need to efficiently run a boutique without altering the buildings, which they occupy but do not own.