Maxime, Benoit et Nathan are the founders of the [ ARTEFACT ] brand
Year founded: 2020
Design location, office: France 🇫🇷
Raw material sourcing locations: Portugal 🇵🇹 and France 🇫🇷
Manufacturing, production locations: Portugal 🇵🇹 and France 🇫🇷
Meet the founders
Benoît Gourlet aims to design the best possible product, with the best materials and in the best workshops. An enthusiast of bees and the ocean, he founded La Virgule (formerly Artefact) in 2019, after four years at Decathlon as a product engineer.
Faced with the reality of the outdoor industry—where incorporating 30% recycled polyester is considered sufficient—he asked himself an essential question: what really happens to sports products at the end of their life?
His goal: to rethink design to go beyond simply “better” and fully integrate the issue of impact and sustainability.
Maxime Labat, for his part, has the mission of bringing together stores and businesses ready to change the world… and the bag. A former junior world vice-champion in windsurfing, he joined the adventure in 2019 after traveling the globe following international competitions.
Having himself faced the question of what to do with his board and kite equipment, he decided to turn this problem into an opportunity: give equipment a second life and engage an entire ecosystem in a more responsible dynamic.
Nathan Douillard is responsible for making the brand visible, improving the online experience, and supporting its growth. A cycling and mountain enthusiast, he puts his digital expertise and numerical sense at the service of the company's development.
His driving force: to keep moving forward. Ride, carry, push… but never stop.
Artefact, (formerly known as “La Virgule”) was officially created in November 2020 by Benoit Gourlet, Nathan Douillard, and Maxime Labat. Three outdoor sports enthusiasts who, through their experiences in the industry as a product engineer, an avid practitioner, and a high-level athlete, came to discover a paradox: "The desire for nature damages nature".
The outdoors negatively impacts the environment. Yet, everything is there to do better. We can produce equipment that is innovative, high-performing, has a very low impact, and lasts longer." With this strong conviction, they set out to take sewing machines out of the attic and transform their own gear into new upcycled products and techniques : backpacks.
Collecting tents, hot air balloons, inflatable kayaks, trekking mats, kitesurf sails… cutting them, washing them, and then sewing them back together becomes their daily job. This is the beginning of the La Virgule adventure.
About the brand
In the beginning, they called their brand La Virgule because their approach is not a final point in the life of technical materials, but on the contrary, a breath before writing the second part of the story. This poetic name had certain assets but lacked impact and, above all, caused us problems with sales abroad, particularly in Germany, where customers had difficulty remembering and pronouncing the brand name. Furthermore, they were so focused on creating the best upcycled products on the market during these years of creation that they did not spend much energy on the artistic direction and the brand universe.
After several months of team research, Artefact was the name that received the most support for their new brand. At Artefact, every product tells a story. The word “artefact” comes from the Latin arte factum — “made with art”. An artefact is an object transformed by humans, often carrying memory, meaning, or a new use. A powerful, legendary, and rare object that comes to us from ancient times. In archaeology, they are the witnesses of the past. For them, they are pieces born from a second life. They recover technical materials from the outdoors — hot air balloons, tents, paragliders, inflatable boats… — and they reinvent them to create functional and durable objects. Every bag, every accessory, is a contemporary artefact: at the crossroads of design, technique, and commitment.
The eco-responsible impact
Their conviction - what they fight for every day. Today, the desire for nature damages nature. The outdoors negatively impacts the environment. Yet, everything is there to do better. We can produce equipment that is innovative, high-performing, has a very low impact, and lasts longer.
Their mission - what they want to bring to people's lives is to make the adventure last: to make sure we can continue to run, surf, ride, and climb without damaging nature. And for that, work with the most high-performing used outdoor materials that exist, in order to design more durable equipment, without new materials and without fossil materials.
Their value proposition - what they are, what they do. Artefact, these are ultra-resistant, upcycled bags and accessories made from used or unused high-performance outdoor materials, designed to explore in the city, at sea, in the mountains, or beyond the suburbs, while impacting the environment as little as possible.
The brand's values
🔁 Upcycling ↓
These are products created from unused or used outdoor materials, but super high-performing.
👤 Know-How ↓
The brand sources, cuts, sews, and assembles their products, those that give a second life, and become new bike bags, transport covers, and hiking bags.
🇫🇷 Made in France ↓
The products are made in France.
🇪🇺 Made in Europe ↓
The upcycled products (backpacks, bike bags, accessories…) are made in Europe.
🐨 Vegan ↓
The brand uses technical materials, Hypalon, Hyperlast, Zodiac fabric, hot air balloon fabric, and kite sails.
👐🏽 Social and solidarity impact ↓
The products are made with a social commitment (solidarity workshops).
🏠 Made Local ↓
The products are made in France, so they are local, durable, upcycled, and guaranteed for 32 years, for a long-term investment.
[ Artefact, make the adventure last ]
