Anne and Stéphane Couderc received their trophy on June 11. It is now on display in their boutique-atelier in the Armement building... quite a symbol. PHOTO M.MY.

As at the Cannes Film Festival, the jury prize is both a reward for work accomplished and an encouragement for the future, with all the pressure that implies. That's how Anne and Stéphane Couderc, managers of the young SME Les Toiles du large, feel today. Established since 2012 in the l'Escalet armament building, on June 11 they were awarded the Coup de coeur prize by the jury of Stars et métiers 2014 by the Chambre des métiers et de l'artisanat, organized in partnership with the Banque Populaire Provençale et Corse.

This prize rewards both the concept and the innovative aspect of this company, whose core business is to "recycle" boat sails to give them a new lease of life through bags. An ingenious idea that started from almost nothing. It all began in 2002. A friend of mine who lived on a boat decided to change her sails because she was going on a round-the-world trip," says Anne Couderc. To amuse myself, I offered to recover her sails and give her a bag," adds the young businesswoman, trained in economics and management, who was then taking advantage of maternity leave to "keep herself busy". A simple sewing machine, sails cleaned by hand in the bathtub... It was all very small-scale at first," she says with amusement. It all came together gradually, naturally," she smiles, still almost surprised by their success.

One thing led to another, and Anne Couderc made other bags for pleasure with the rest of her friend's sails, without imagining that her initiative could be put to economic use. Then, in 2005, she finally joined the ADIJE business incubator in Marseille, which has since become Cosens. It was here that Les Toiles du large took shape: "they coached us to fine-tune the project, create a range, create a status..." recalls her husband Stéphane. In 2006, Anne Couderc took part in her first boat show in La Ciotat to communicate, collect sails and promote her project, which also had the added attraction of employing disabled people in the manufacturing process. First with Esat Rouet in Aubagne, then with Esat Saint-Jean in Marseille. "For me, the idea is to be both local and useful", she says. And it's obvious: "We don't all start out with the same cards in our hands; disabled people didn't choose to be in this situation". A job and a salary are also a guarantee of autonomy and recognition, to which can be added the creative appeal of the Toiles du large business.
400 to 500 pieces a year

Her idea hit the bull's-eye with the boat show public. "We've had a lot of positive feedback". The human aspect, of course, but also the philosophy - reflected in the layout of their store, which is furnished with furniture from an old industrial haberdashery - the originality and authenticity of the project, since sailors often find it hard "to part with their sails, they're attached to them", and the idea of giving them a second life undoubtedly touched their hearts.

The company was founded in 2007; her husband Stéphane joined her in the adventure three years later, and the collection of sails was organized around the same concept as at the outset, "one sail, one bag". Since then, the SME, which employs two people at L'Escalet and a dozen at the Esat, has steadily increased its activity, collecting 400 to 500 pieces of sail per year. Its products are sold in some forty boutiques in France, as well as in Europe and Japan.

Even more than this success, it is the project, based on a perfect alliance between ecology and solidarity, combined with a social approach, that the CMA 13 rewarded and encouraged this year. A fine example.

Marjorie Moly