Materials and manufacturing

Les Arcadiens objects are made to last and crafted with care in our workshop located in Caen, Normandy. Each piece is locally produced with a clear goal: to offer interior decor made in France, eco-friendly, and designed to last—far from disposable or standardized items.

We mainly use PLA, a bioplastic made from plant-based resources (like corn starch). This bio-based material has a lower environmental impact compared to petroleum-based plastics: it requires little energy to process and doesn’t rely on fossil resources.

But we want to be transparent: PLA does not break down in nature and is only compostable under industrial conditions. So it’s not a miracle material, and we refuse any form of greenwashing.

To address these limitations, we have implemented two concrete commitments:

✔️ Designing unique, non-standardized decor objects that you’ll want to keep for a long time.

✔️ Offer an end-of-life recovery service: returned items are shredded and then reused as raw material for new prototypes.

We work with technologies that allow us to manufacture locally and on demand, with no overproduction or unnecessary inventory. Thanks to an agile creative process, we stay close to the object, adjusting, testing, and perfecting it at every stage. This enables us to offer responsible designer decor, with controlled, local, and thoughtful production.

Finally, Les Arcadiens conducts ongoing research into alternative materials, always striving to combine simplicity, aesthetics, and reduced impact.

Our pieces are more than just decorative accessories that pile up and get forgotten: they embody a new way of approaching decor—more sustainable, more local, and more committed.