Located in the Mozinor business park in Montreuil in western Paris, la Ressourcerie du Cinéma is a huge 800 m² warehouse that houses film sets waiting to live their second life. Wooden panels of all sizes, huge wine barrels, chairs, furniture, or a set of tombstones that were used for the shooting of the fourth "John Wick" movie in Paris starring Keanu Reeves. La Ressourcerie du Cinéma recovers all these elements of the set so that they can be reused in other films, or simply to give a touch of originality to your interior.
Entering la Ressourcerie's hangar is like entering a cabinet of curiosities: near the entrance, for example, there are light fittings of all sizes next to a bicycle and typical Haussmann windows, as well as an antique frame depicting Pope John Paul II. Not far away, a large block of polystyrene, painted black and resembling a rock from The Lord of the Rings, is wisely waiting for a buyer. If you look up, on the mezzanines built by the local volunteers, you can see sofas, school chairs or even "marble effect" column bases for the next Asterix and Obelix. And in each aisle, a new surprise: will we recognise the tapestry used as a set for our favourite film? In which series could we have seen this piano? And did a famous actor sit on this faded sofa?
La Ressourcerie du Cinéma was born out of the desire of the Éco-Déco Ciné collective, a group of set designers, to put an end to waste. The project is led by Jean-Roch Bonnin, a film prop maker, and Karine d'Orlan de Polignac, who comes from the recycling sector. In the 1950s and 1960s until the mid-1970s, film studios stored their set pieces, as they still do in Italy at Cinecittà. At that time, every set piece was recovered for later use. In the following years, with globalisation, timber became very cheap to build and the studios, because of the cost of land, started to run out of storage places. So they dumped all their sets in the dumpster because it was cheaper to build and then throw them away.
To fight against this waste, la Ressourcerie du Cinéma, created in 2020, decided to rent or resell at low prices (on average 40 to 50% cheaper) the set elements stored in their warehouse in Montreuil, which looks like Ali Baba's cave. Private individuals, escape game companies, construction companies, architects and, of course, film and audiovisual professionals make up the clientele of this atypical and welcoming place. Recovered materials are inventoried, then valued and published on social networks and in la Resourcerie's catalogue, and offered for sale or rent. 80% of the decorative elements recovered (furniture, plastics, metals) are in almost new or unused condition. Among the resources, 60% are decorative sheets, which the resource centre offers on the reuse market (architecture, associations, craftsmen).
If you would like a more detailed list of the objects in la Ressourcerie du Cinéma's stock, you will find several materials specific to the film set design profession, such as standard wooden panel frames (known as set sheets or repertoires) that can be reused as they are. You can also find stage sets, staircases, fake chimneys, fake beams, windows (real and fake), doors (real and fake), crutches and fake walls, as well as windows, lamp posts, scenery on canvas, patinated elements and original scenery objects. Then all the elements for the construction and decoration of your house: PVC flooring, parquet, decorative panels, not to mention materials for recycling: wood, glass, glue, paper, paint, etc.
So, whether you are a decor professional, a craftsman or a private individual, don't miss a visit to la Ressourcerie du Cinéma, because there are real treasures to be discovered in this unique Alibaba cave.
After browsing the aisles of the Ressourcerie du Cinéma, and if you still have some energy left, why not take the opportunity to visit XXO, one of France's leading specialists in the rental and sale of vintage design and furniture since 1997? Le Marché aux puces de Montreuil, an open-air flea market with around 500 stalls that looks more like a giant swap meet filled with knickknacks, is also located nearby.
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