Out for delivery to Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital. © Quentin Chevrier
Capturing the moment for distributed production of personal protective equipment, photographer Quentin Chevrier followed deliveries around a city on lockdown by the collective Makers x Covid Paris.
Makers in the greater Paris region are currently working around the clock to produce emergency protective gear for those most exposed to the Covid-19 virus. Makers x Covid Paris is one of many ad hoc collectives in the French capital, which emerged from initiatives launched by Volumes, WoMa, Mon Atelier en Ville, Electrolab and Atelier des Amis. Fab City Grand Paris rose to the challenge by immediately federating fablabs, hackerspaces, coworking spaces and shared work studios. Soon after, Homemakers textile fablab in the 15th arrondissement, the brand-new La Tréso in Malakoff, many other labs, public partners and suppliers rallied around this collective dynamic. Now, Makers x Covid Paris includes 68 fabrication spaces and 85 volunteers with a common goal: to produce and deliver through a dedicated platform a maximum of sanitary equipment for those most exposed.
From fabricating to assembling face shields
As the machines operate nonstop, teams organize into different shifts. The first round of volunteers comes in to assemble and pack the face shields into cardboard boxes, which are labeled and ready to be delivered to the organizations that placed their order through the online platform. Then the “runners” come to the various labs to pick up the boxes and transport them, via bicycle or automobile, to the health care workers.
There is a constant flow of peer-to-peer orders on makerscovid.paris. This online tool channels the needs and requests of small organizations and health care centers directly to the fablabs. In an effort to support local production and manufacturing, the municipal government of Paris further connected other potential suppliers and contributed to practical solutions in logistics.
Carton Plein, activism on delivery
In the offices of Carton Plein—an association that is particularly committed to the social and professional integration of people most alienated from work (homeless, without qualifications or income, etc.)—volunteers are planning the deliveries of face shields produced by makers in their homes to health care and other essential workers, as well as raw materials for fablabs.
Noël’s cargo-bike delivery to medical teams
Noël delivers face shields produced at Atelier des Amis in the 17th arrondissement.
In order to buy materials, some labs made advance payments before calling for donations. So far, they have raised 3000 euros. While the logistical supply of materials is still complicated at the moment, some businesses have responded and actively support the initiative (suppliers Kimya, Francofil, Polydis, Richardson, DOOD for the supply of 3D printers).
Makers x Covid Paris has already produced some 15,000 face shields, delivered to a number of hospitals (Hôpital du Kremlin-Bicêtre, Pitié-Salpêtrière, Hôpital Robert Debré, Hôpital Saint-Louis, etc.), and is currently producing several thousand more.
Next in this photo series: Volunteering with Makerscovid.paris.