Our story

i.d.o was founded in 2009, with the aim to help isolated communities through intercultural projects that bring together different skills according to the specificity of each context. Initially promoting the encounter between design and traditional handicrafts, the association has collaborated on various sustainable projects with local actors and craftsmen’s cooperatives, in order to accompany them in the development of their activities.

In 2019, i.d.o’s structure evolved and became an open and collaborative platform, rich in multiple skills and expertises put at the service of projects enhancing craftsmanship and questioning the habitability conditions of populations from modest and struggling backgrounds.

By focusing our collective action on concrete and ambitious projects, we establish a place of reflexion, interactions and solidarity, and make this organization a singular space of creation, where our diverse practices dialogue and question our points of view and our commitments towards man and society.

From the creation of objects to the design of architectural spaces, i.d.o gets into all projects questioning the materiality of living conditions (housing, collective structures, objects), and helps people who are trying to preserve their traditions and environment while developing their activities with few means.

Our methodology

• design thinking

• social innovation through design: our projects propose meaningful balanced solutions for humans as part of one ecosystem, and a specific approach adapted to each context, in order to develop innovative social and economic models and the autonomy of populations through the acquisition of new skills

• co-conception: we include and collaborate with local actors and communities from the beginning (immersion and analysis of the local context, definition of the needs, collaborative search for ideas)

• design and architecture expertises: our team has multiple backgrounds and experiences in various fields of creation (practical and theoretical), and we can support the project development from its initial conception to its final completion

Our mission

To develop human centered projects and generate positive social, economic and environmental impacts:

• by designing new scenarios and solutions according to the particularity of each problematic and needs definition

• by helping local communities in the improvement of their living conditions through the co-conception of innovative collective infrastructures

• by helping local communities in the improvement of their living conditions through the co-conception of efficient housing which take into account natural architecture and local environment opportunities

• by promoting the transmission and sharing of skills

• by appealing to and connecting specific expertises

• by helping the development of craftsmen’s cooperatives through sustainable design projects which take into account the possibilities of the local context (skills, materials, tooling, uses, etc.)

• by supporting craftsmen in the creation of new methodologies and tools of production in order to improve their skills and facilitate their work conditions

• by supporting the visibility of craftsmen’s cooperatives with the creation of communication media (global identity, graphic design, etc.)

• by developing educational tools to transmit the values and goals of the projects to the younger generation
  
  
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