To manufacture its irrigation pottery, Oyas Environnement also relies on social issues in its workshop in Saint-Jean-de-Fos

Not really cooperative, the Saint-Jean-de-Fos company is implementing agile management and the strong involvement of each of the 25 employees.

The company has just celebrated its tenth anniversary and cultivates the paradox of having great ambitions while experiencing a small plateau this year. Oyas Environnement, based in Saint-Jean-de-Fos, has just benefited from Parisian visibility with large billboards in the metro on the occasion of the Made in France trade fair in Paris.

When they came up with the idea in 2014 of creating this company manufacturing irrigation jars, Frédéric Bidault and Bastien Noël had in common a past in the medical-social sector and the desire to lead a project that was both ecological and social. “We had all sorts of ideas!”, smiles Frédéric Bidault. And it was finally an image, seen in a TV report that hit the mark… “Arid land, a tree and, at its foot, a pottery. We found the initiative wonderful, more from a personal point of view, for our own gardens. But little by little, the project was born. We did some research and found this device of irrigation jars, still used in the Maghreb, or in India, but completely unknown to potters here. In fact, there was not even a name…”

The name oyas is a variation of ollas, a Spanish word that evokes a terracotta container. It is the invention of the two Saint-Jeannais. “In the end, it wasn't that simple! We had chosen a little-known product, heavy, fragile and handmade… But as soon as we started selling it, we understood that the market wouldn't be local. A report on the TF1 news had a huge impact, even the Saint-Jean-de-Fos Tourist Office was receiving calls from people interested in our products.”

Stefen Eynius, a former actor who became a potter three years ago at Oyas Environnement in Saint-Jean-de-Fos. Midi Libre – E. L.

Thanks to a partnership with the European Membrane Institute, an ancient empirical system has become a reproducible and effective process. The quality of the soil, the thickness of the walls, the closure of the cells, the cooking time, everything is important so that, when stuck in the ground or in a planter, the container lets water through by capillarity and maintains humidity around the plant. “We save up to 70% of water for irrigation. And with our handmade pottery, we tell a story…”

 

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And also

Figures. 200,000 pieces of pottery leave the Oyas Environnement workshops each year. In ten years, one million pieces of pottery have been sold. The company currently rents these vast buildings in the heart of the village of Saint-Jean-de-Fos. In the medium term, it could seek to expand within its own premises. A project that has not yet been planned and which would remain in the sector.
Trend. The year 2024 was synonymous with a plateau in the growth of Oyas environnement: customers are more sensitive to the issue of watering during periods of prolonged drought. 60% of production is sold in e-commerce, the rest in independent garden centers and in the Botanic brand. Communities have also purchased oyas: for shared gardens in Paris or for communal planters in… Montpeyroux. In the future, the company wants to work on a model intended for agriculture. Its garland-shaped pottery is already a glimpse of the research in progress.
Boutique. At the Saint-Jean-de-Fos workshop, Oyas environnement had to open a boutique space, as customers were also very interested in seeing the manufacturing process. Which does not displease potters, like Stéfen who after having been an actor for thirteen years in Paris, chose to change profession.

Pottery to plant in the ground or in a planter to keep the soil moist. Midi Libre – E. L.

That of a company with a strong social impact: it is necessary to recruit and train potters capable of turning in series. The profession is disappearing, there are only two training centers left in France. Today, 25 people work at Oyas Environnement, some of whom were far from employment. The employees are only there four days a week, with a very horizontal organization: once a month, each spends a day serving the group. “Everyone goes there, including me, and it is very effective for understanding the problems of others”, says the head of the company, who also invites all staff to a group meeting every Tuesday at noon, during which everyone shares their activity and any difficulties they may be experiencing.

Next stage of development and research for the Héraultais: garland pottery for cultures.

The company is organized into activity centers, without a boss or foreman. Neither cooperative nor holacracy really established, but an agile management that aims for the well-being as much as the involvement of each. Parity being substantially respected, it was proposed to the female employees, with the agreement of all, the establishment of menstrual leave, in a portfolio of 30 days per year. “In one year of hindsight, ten days have been used. There is self-responsibility among employees, it is something that works.”

Competition

The Hérault company was a victim of its success: very quickly, its process was reproduced by others, less scrupulous about know-how. Counterfeits appeared on the market even though the brand was well registered. Oyas Environnement launched legal proceedings, which after 2 and a half years, resulted in a victory. Today, we find on the market "ollas", which look a lot like the oyas made in Hérault. "We have made a proper name into a common name, that is the price of success. But we also know that this has revived ceramics in various workshops that were no longer producing!" continues Frédéric Bidault. Oyas environnement has for its part created a second workshop, in Fraize, in the Vosges, and opened franchises in Belgium and Switzerland.