Acivities in Ciclofficina

The project of CICLOFFICINA revolves around volunteering and sharing

                                                                                                     

In one of the posters in the office you can read: “Questo é uno spaziocomune che accoglie idee e nuoveproposte. Divertti e divertiamoci insieme”.

According to Giuglio – the driving force of Ciclofficina, This program of mutual help was born from the good will of some friends and of the idea to form solidarity. “Here we don’t buy or swap bicycles. We help to repair and maintain this popular means of transport and we do the work that is needed. 

 

Another  task of Ciclofficina is to promote the bicycle as a means of transport, and as a way to achieve it, they organise various activities, especially bike rides.

Giulio – one of the driving forces of the project

António and Manuel chose to collaborate with Ciclofficina and the activities started with coffee prepared by Manuel. 

The first task was to clean, tidy up and organise the office…

and it looked pristine…ready for work to begin!!

After that we started to arrange the tires, to tune brakes and wheels, to install various components, etc. If some people dropped in who didn’t know how to fix their bicycles, they could count on help of the volunteers and leave with a working bike.

The other possibility is to renew the old bikes.

António even built a bike with the elements taken from the “bikes’ cemetery” but finally he discovered that the frame was bent! :(

The team was nice, there was amazing comradeship and they even lent the bicycles to António, Manuel and Isabel so they could use them in Lecce!!

Activities in “Il Formicaio”

Il Formicaio is an association with an environmental society which was created in 2010. This year they decided to launch a new initiative called “Il Bazar del Dono” which consists of a donation of various things like utensils, clothes, books etc, that can be redistributed and reused by others who will give them “new life”. Anyone can give something in a good condition that they don’t use anymore and everyone – no matter if they brought anything or not - can take something they like or need. The idea doesn’t involve money or the valuation of the objects.

Among all the proposals given by Vulcanicamente, Lurdes, Isabel and us, we opted for a voluntary work at the Bazar del Dono. The guys from Il Formicaio – Lorenzo (our “tutor”), Chiara, Antonello and Checco – always kind and available, gave us a very friendly welcome.

The association moved to the “posh” part of the city with chic shops and expensive brands which is quite a big challenge, taking into consideration the philosophy of Il Formicaio.

When we entered the local area looked like this:

The first task we were proposed to do was to find a creative way of decorating a shop window before the day of the inauguration of Bazar del Dono which was planned for 2nd of October. The idea was to provoke curiosity among the passers-by.

Lurdes had a great idea based on using a question mark which was later discussed and approved by Lorenzo and Antonello – who was responsible for communication. 

We looked through the clothes that had been donated, we chose some in bad condition and we used the fabric in our work. One of the philosophies of Il Formicaio is a reutilization and because of that, due to environmental issues, they try to make use of everything.

From the conception, through the growth phase… up to the final result.

  

Everything with reused materials!

Meanwhile, we were also helping with small things…

Spreading info about the inauguration...

making braided chains...

preparing tags...

On a day of inauguration which coincided with the 4th anniversary of Formicaio there was a party with lots of friends, acquaintances and other people interested to get to know Bazar del Dono!