Things to love and love again

Imagine an old bicycle rim that someone decides to drop off at a recycling station, saving it from going to landfill. Then a collection worker – hired by a company that helps people with disadvantaged backgrounds – picks it up, and drives it to a recycling facility. That’s where the rim gets sorted, cleaned, and given the care it needs. And then, the magic happens! An artist looks at it from a new, surprising angle – no longer as garbage, but rather as a blank canvas that opens up thousands of possibilities. With a bit creativity and lots of love, the artist transforms the bicycle rim into a gleaming piece of wall art! This is not only the beautiful story of how a bicycle rim is given a new life, but it’s also the idea behind SPIGO, a new kind of second-hand store in ELNÒS Shopping in Brescia. In our continuing effort to have a positive impact on people and our planet – and inspire others to do the same – our meeting place team joined forces with CAUTO, a local cooperative network of social enterprises that helps people in disadvantaged conditions by giving them meaningful jobs.

The vision for the team was to set up a shop where they could showcase circular concepts – like upcycling and recycling – in a way that makes these concepts more tangible, creative and inspiring for our meeting place visitors. In order to keep shelves and racks stocked at SPIGO, CAUTO coordinates teams of people who collect discarded items and deliver them to a facility where they are sorted, cleaned, and made available to artists. The items are then upcycled, and finally showcased at SPIGO. It’s a win-win-win situation because jobs are created by collecting and caring for tossed items, which are given new life and proudly displayed as objects that still have value. CAUTO isn’t the only partner our team at ELNÒS Shopping worked with to turn SPIGO from an idea into a reality. The shop is also the result of an 18-month collaboration with local artists, artisans, architects and interior designers. So, yes – SPIGO might look like a normal second-hand shop, but it represents much, much more. It promotes a sustainability mentality while simultaneously supporting partners who share our passion for conscious environmental and social solutions. The vision behind SPIGO comes to life fully once our ELNÒS Shopping guests visit the shop and see real-life examples – the golden rim is just one out of the many pre-loved items that are given new love by someone creative, and loved again by somebody else who takes them home.

Also, not everything at SPIGO is upcycled. Our meeting place guests can also discover recycled clothing and accessories, and there are always new things coming in and reasons to keep coming back thanks to CAUTO and our creative partners. People never know what they’ll find each time they visit SPIGO, but we’re 100% certain they’ll always be surprised and inspired!