“The idea started from an observation. My mother, who is a certain age, no longer went for walks in town because there was nowhere to sit and rest on the way.” Philippe Leroy and the association of which he is a member, Robin des bancs, are taking up the issue. They, who have been campaigning for the installation of benches in the city centre since 2017, are diversifying… with chairs!
Sit the link
For two years, they have been swarming the seats in front of the windows of traders delighted with the operation. Around forty chairs are thus arranged in the heart of the city. “That’s where there are the fewest places to sit. In the neighborhoods, there are a few more benches.”believes Philippe Leroy.
Shops that volunteer to host a seat take care of bringing it in every evening. The town hall, for its part, has granted a specific exemption for the right of place. The operation is therefore a blank for the trader.
Andrea Sethi, one of the most active Robin des bancs, assures us that this “minute break” has many virtues. “This allows you to rest, to ‘break’ the pace of the city which is often much too fast. But, above all, the chairs installed in the streets reinforce the conviviality in the city”.
A workshop to inform
It is indeed not rare that this everyday furniture encourages exchanges between passers-by and traders. The bond is created imperceptibly between people.
The association collects chairs from all over the place, restores them and then paints them. Pretty objects in the end that pose a few problems. “People often don’t dare to sit on it, thinking it belongs to the store. So we have to regularly schedule events to educate people.”, explains Andrea. And one of them took place yesterday morning right in front of the market. People from Toulon passing by were invited to decorate a seat. Sandrine didn’t have to be asked to pick up the brush. This artist at heart has sketched a beautiful koi carp on a chair repainted blue. Both the experience and the concept excited her. “I would come back on occasion ” she promises.
And that’s good, the Robin des bancs organize them regularly!
Learn more +
Cleaning: robindesbancs.fr
