In the winter of 2013, the S27 – Kunst und Bildung / Association for the Promotion of Intercultural Youth Work e.V. (www.s27.de) granted shelter to five West Africans who fought together with other refugees on Oranienplatz in Berlin for a just asylum policy.
In order for the five – Malik Agachi, Moussa Usuman, Saidou Moussa, Maiga Chamseddine and Ali Maiga Nouhou – to arrive, to do something, and ideally to learn something new, a construction workshop began under the direction of Sebastian Däschle. He had the idea to build wooden furniture pieces according to the designs of Enzo Maris, and to sell the pieces and consequently finance the livelihood and the education of the furniture makers from the proceeds. Jessy Medernach and Corinna Sy joined in the idea phase and together they decided to found a company made of and for refugees who would produce and distribute the design classics.
Following a successful presentation of the project at the Milan Furniture Fair, the CUCULA e.V. association was founded in July 2014 as a frame for the design manufacture and educational programme. In winter 2014, the team began a crowdfunding campaign on startnext. Through the support of prominent ambassadors as well as numerous volunteers and a keen interest from the press, more than 120,000 Euros were collected. The crowdfunding campaign not only showed that the model worked, but also that there was widespread support for changing the refugee policy at the time. The project developed over the following year into a real operation with practical learning workshops which produced multiple manufactured design objects.
CUCULA – Refugees Company & Education
The CUCULA – Refugees Company for Crafts and Design was a manufactory, platform for intercultural exchange, and experimental vocational preparation programme – a model project that supported refugees in building their own professional future.
In the CUCULA workshop, up to eight young refugees (in constant rotation) learnt the basic skills in design and craftsmanship. With the help of the integrated education programme CUCULA Education – in which courses, practical modules, as well as individual legal advice and everyday support were offered – the trainees prepared themselves for their apprenticeship, course of study, or profession in the form of permanent employment, an internship or simply as a participant in the educational programme. The aim of this programme was to provide a structure, to allow access to social networks, to promote self-efficacy and the ability to act, develop, plan and to implement one’s own professional future prospects.
As a design manufactory, CUCULA produced and sold high-quality design objects. In cooperation with refugees, designers and artists, a lively production space was created in the company’s own workshop, in which a variety of projects and commissioned works were carried out including carpentry work, product development, set design, performance art, and custom-made items. The collective production provided refugees with a concrete outlook to prepare their future and simultaneously co-finance their training.
In addition to the manufacture of furniture according to the designs of Enzo Mari, further design and production experiments were carried out with renowned designers such as Jerszy Seymour, Stephen Burks and Cheick Diallo. Over the years, CUCULA has held numerous exhibitions and workshops with artists such as Rebecca Raue, David Zink Yi, Antje Engelmann, Friedrich Herz, and many others.
In this way, CUCULA formulated an economic model project that offered opportunities for individuals and solutions to social questions.
CUCULA was realised in cooperation between CUCULA e.V. and the S27 – Kunst und Bildung / Association for the Promotion of Intercultural Youth Work e.V. as the provider of educational and creative programmes.
Since January 2019, the label CUCULA is carried solely by the S27.
