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Experimentation area: Bangladesh – Bay of Bengal
Period: 2012 - 2013
Led by: Corentin de Chatelperron, Pierre-Alain Lévêque, Elaine Le Floch
In 2012, Corentin de Chatelperron, the current president of the Low-tech Lab, embarked on board the Gold of Bengal for a 6 month-long adventure living self-sufficiently thanks to low-techs.
Inspired by the Bengali sampans, this sailing boat was born following the research led by the Jute Lab, created by Corentin after his awakening:
Jute fibre was considered as the wealth of Bengal for many years. However, nowadays, the competition with oil-sourced materials has compromised this thousand-year old know-how and considerably impacted the economic, environmental and social health of a country which is one of the poorest in the world.
The Gold of Bengal sailboat proves a concept. A demonstration that natural resources can be rehabilitated and integrated into technical processes with high added value.
As for the expedition, it was a springboard. As well as highlighting this little-known fibre, it was the basis of a challenge that later fed all the projects of the organisation: finding simple, small, cost-effective and energy-efficient systems to allow Corentin to live comfortably on board, and have the lowest environmental impact possible. The interest in low-tech was born.