The Strasbourg Christmas Market

I bought this box at the Libre Objet booth at the Strasbourg Christmas market.

Libre Objet is an organization that crates and sells fun and decorative objects made by “personnes en grande difficulté.” France has a comparatively decent social safety net, so in practice, this usually means people who are homeless or in precarious situations because of mental problems, substance abuse, and the like.

I first heard about Libre Objet from my friend Jean Bermon who gave me Cathédrale de Course, which I also made into a handmeon. Jean is Technical Director of Heritance, a charitable organization dedicated to helping museums worldwide.

The Main Libre Objet Workshop

The objects they sell are designed by artists and are made from recycled or inexpensive materials. They have 27 workshops around Alsace that provide paid internships for homeless people. The goal is to reintegrate the interns as self-sufficient, productive members of society.

Pinces Charmantes

A lot of the Libre Objets have humorous names. This one might be translated as “Pins Charming”.