Covid19 ? For Mondin, just a (little) part of their journey…

Published by Anne LAFONT (TBS PROGRAMME GRANDE ECOLE, 1988) | N° 103 - La Tribu - English Version

Covid-19 did not stop Rodolphe Mondin and Julien Houssiaux.They had only just graduated from the school - class of 2020 - when they embarked on an ambitious project: To offer the luxury market a new material that dares to combine the most traditional of expertise with high-performance R & D. Their innovation has the nobility of the vine and the ethics of bio-sourced manufacturing. Anchored in their region, or even in the land that they know and that has inspired them, they are above all motivated by an eco-responsible ethic. Like an echo responding to the crisis that we are going through, and all the questions that it poses, their project is taking shape…

Innovation
Rodolphe Mondin and Julien Houssiaux (Bachelor 2020)

Recovering vegetable waste from the pressing of grapes

« "We plan to market the product by the end of 2021.” Barely a year after the official creation of their company, Covid or no Covid, the project has taken shape. From the beginning , Rodolphe’s idea that he developed during his TBS course in Barcelona , was gradually taking the form of an entrepreneurial project. He was thinking about how to use grape marc ( seeds and skin ), a vegetable waste that is hardly used , and to transform it into a beautiful, flexible and resistant material. Julien joined Rodolphe and the two entrepreneurs started to imagine their invention everywhere where leather is used, as a noble material, from fashion to watchmaking to leather goods.

They are working on the sourcing with South Western vineyards. They also rely on technologies from the plastics industry and tanneries. They have found partner laboratories to develop prototypes and they have presented their work. "The feedback has been very good and the reception very positive with the material being tested by future users .” Their material meets the high demands of the luxury houses in terms of quality , and represents an added value that a bio-sourced material, composed mainly of plant resources, represents for this sector. "The luxury industry offers us a lot of opportunities and we are going to start producing the first range of goods».

Difficulties, of course they have encountered, and of course, Covid has created its share of these. "In the TBS incubator training, the coaching was done by videoconference, which was sometimes complicated not being face to face; and the search for suppliers too, we felt that there was a need to see people. Also , we found that during this period, help was concentrated on companies that were already making a turnover which was not yet our case.”…

An entirely new, honest, and meaningful sector

They have created a new link between the distilleries, which are very familiar with grape marc and already use it for eau de vie or biofuel, and the luxury goods industry is looking for new ways of working to really improve their ecological footprint.

With the innovative use of this resource, the company is creating a truly sustainable industry

As Rodolphe Mondin points out, "It is the raw material that is the source of eco-responsible behaviour: the nature of the material, the location of its production, the technologies that transform it, and a sustainable sector is all that. The luxury industry knows that it has to invest in these responsible sectors. It is part of their added value and their commitment.

For Mondin, it seems that Covid is just a part of their journey . Mondin is not a child of the crisis, whether it be health or environmental. It is a real industrial and eco-responsible project thought out from the resource to the outlets. We wish them good luck.