Creative Director
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Project Description
Beside its design aspect as a Bauhaus tribute, the core sense of the ©(Cloud)lounger project claim for an ethical approach that embrace the fundamental values of sustainability, fair trade exchange promoting circular economy, equitable as knowledgeable collaboration, a prodigious know-how to produce way beyond the projective vision, a virtuous inclusion for the benefit of the community, a better seat to think best, a better world to be.
*(a complete higher-definition presentation is available)
Project Region
EU Programme or fund
Description of the project
Summary
— What belongs to everyone, what matters to us, (the modern tradition).
There is no break with the past without a desire for the (re)generation of our aspirations and our permanent inherited values. ; the changing world, transfigured by the emergence of the phenomena of mutation, a dynamic espoused by novelty and characterised by lasting modernity, a legacy.
Thus are the well-established principles of the Bauhaus School, now celebrating its hundredth anniversary as seen in Charlotte Perriand's invented new world, the retrospective exhibition dedicated to her at the Vuitton Foundation. What a perfect example indeed of modernity to have thus brought together, with skilled and legitimate museography, her exemplary work placed as it is amongst a number of other pieces from avant-garde movements contemporary to her time. Such edifying works in the midst of this iconic piece of (de)constructivist architecture by Frank Gehry. As new and radical as they were in their time, for some people, these references have now become fashionable (as for us) have passed into universal heritage.
* significant novelty of the era, a disruptive classic, research interest, from far end to suitable, longevity, high quality+powerful design, dedication : love investigation
Key objectives for sustainability
The transition, digital or not, inspires creativity but also conveys confusion. Technological and ecological innovation take on a planetary awareness that is forced onwards by the climatic emergency. More than ever, the general aspiration of well-being is confronted with mutations of the whole of society, the proliferation of community ties exposed to the societies of the Internet (quite invasive and radical on behalf of progress) that reforms the ways of thinking and behaviour of the world of before into the world of after. Furniture is used distinctly in these transformed settings, the dining room is marginalised by the preference for open kitchens and the sharing of tasks, the Italian shower is fully integrated into the bathroom, so far, the laptop, tablet and smartphone are "unwelcome" in the bedroom. The office has become commonplace or cooperative, delocalised, or even virtual, to the benefit of the residence that has since become eligible for remote work, for the desire to work wherever you live. As you say, "the desk is dead", fragmented in its functionality, a must for today’s transfigurations, as (soft) as (safe) it’s possible, as global as the worldwide village can be.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
— from art > to design > to architecture > to the furniture industry >applied to lifestyle > home/office/interactive family/social network community : the (ex)changing world perspective >I< the intimate landscape : ’how to modelise complexity to become a natural, growing modern life’.
—the ideal position, the furniture transition, (today/tomorrow) The way we work today uses the new vocabulary of co-working, co-living, lounge areas and open spaces. Thus it goes for a place as it does for the furniture that inhabits it, a sharing spot or an individual zone of refuge and (re)positioning (a personal comfort zone whence to reboot). Architecture is imagined nonetheless as a place of exchange and a setting for sharing, the equal relations of man and woman are on view, of the individual in an intimate landscape, exposed to all of society. The facts have changed as have the forms of cohabitation and of generic spatiality of private/public life, social/professional or family. A brand new world, as multifaceted and subject to metamorphosis as it is, calls for the sufficiency of the efforts of those dedicated to the latent, crucial refoundation of their social life, to the durability of their values — both conservative and innovative — driven by their desire for symbiosis in their microcosm, or even relative osmosis with the other. The acute relationship of the permanent being in the spotlight on the stage of the innovative world. The modern way of life, managing a changing world.
Key objectives for inclusion
— the days of traditional garden furniture are over. (but the sun stil shines) User friendly hybrid outdoor collection : a constant multi-functional home (nest)work :
Ordinary seat has become a welcoming nest, virtually an advantageous work station as well among unlimited utilities. From high standard handcraft finish to complex mainstream new technology integration in its quality, academic to atypical, basic to collector, indoor/middoor/outdoor, wherever but ideally suited for personal, mixed or professional use, practical but stylish. Whatever you wish, the options are available to meet your needs. (resting/relaxing/thinking/chatting/writing/web-surfing/calling/working/hosting/drinking/eating/drying/sunbathing): useful/colourful/joyful/familiar of a strong aesthetic identity, hand-made touch within high-tech industrial fabrication, sustainable materials, mobility, strength, multipurpose). A heightened need for comfort and originality, a search for the natural as well as for connected furniture, sun-nourished or simply ready to move on, between tradition and migration. How to stay cool at 37.5º and keep a mind wide open in all circumstances, fully aware in all 360º to the true progress under way. Even outdoors anything can happen…
—the art of the chair to manage complexity with natural.
Results in relation to category
XXIst furniture manufacturing knowledge (>) applied to the comfort zone : the most wanted accessory, a (central display) system set up to provide whatever you wish : how to upmarket + twist technology (into) tradition to create unlimited interactive chair(s).
Emergence is not an emergency but a deliberate arbitrage to the benefit of novelty, opposite in its reaction to the conservation of an object or its relegation, right up to the very meaning of possession. “Our possessions possess us?” Not really anymore, for we can preserve the best and replace or recycle the worst. I propose to revisit the fundamentals with which the vitra brand is directly associated, more as a tribute than as a transgression of the authentic. Your ‘intelligent’ catalogue is a reading of the work and production of furniture creators and of their creativity that equals their ingeniousness, crystalised at the epicentre of their modernity. Beyond the obligation of creating a listing, an inventory —this study explores the function (its potentate) of the desire of an object (its value), from a perspective drawing to the 3D model through to a prototype dedicated to production and manufacturing, characterised by the systemic logic that links each individual object to the whole, a multiple, potential collection. This was conceived to satisfy a variable geometry of needs and situations, above all a particular interest for aesthetic detail and all or part of its design, seen in the quality of its fabrication. As Charlotte Perriand so perfectly declared — "the most important thing isn't the object but the person".
How Citizens benefit
Fundamentally, the very essence of furniture design is to be able to easily imagine sitting, curling up in and living with a piece, the next day; life itself and our ways of life connecting us to the chair in all its forms. Thus expressed with some intimacy, I daily think in Charles Eames, I draw and create for my own edification in Prouvé, or write daily in Rietveld, have a casual dinner in Marcel Breuer or Mart Stam, or work studiously or even host all dressed up with Le Corbusier&Charlotte Perriand (among others). In short, it is like a second nature linked to my ideal of an intimate universe, so well suited that it lavishes harmony on contact, like a favourite garment whose wear and tear, created by an almost ritualistic use, is equal proof of its empathetic value, a self-skin ; (to each their own couturiers).
The Enjoyment Zone is the subject I am interested to explore in depth : a type of chair that is absolutely useful outdoors as well as aesthetically pleasing to look at when outside, wheiter it is occupied or unoccupied. An object of work and one of well-being (without excluding there being pleasure in work) practically a nest on a cloud, a platform in itself providing easy access to knowledge, while an ideal spot for a break, a place to chill out, to cool your mind. A life-size chair, almost tailor made (a chair with a view), well dressed, well adapted ready-made, exposed to a broad perspective ; at the same time suitable for contemplation and for thinking differently, the needs and desires for connections to the social networks community as to interactive family ties, (away from the crowd), a private network within one’s circle, surfing quietly and cosily over the unbearable lightness of being ; how to make the activity of work fit within expectations of one’s private life. — that’s the whole essence of the (Cloud)lounger project, a chair that is a double of the self.
Innovative character
The (Cloud) lounger one, substantially with endless possible variations, represents nonetheless a homogeneous vision, proportionally multifaceted though associated with identical accessories, a true furniture system, an interactive furniture family. The functional value of each piece provides as many answers to the broad demands of furniture needs, all or the related parts of the outdoor ensemble can exist by extension. In principle, the physiognomy of this Cloud lounger isn’t to look especially new, indeed its obvious familiarity makes it a part of the modern tradition, though never seen nor produced from this singular perspective, but to be sufficiently different, relatively original and ideally conceived to last, which fully meets today’s expectations as does its design legitimacy. Through its details as well the general combinations of spin-off pieces and the range of accessories that go with it, the whole system is made for common uses as much as for specific needs. The same production processes can be ingeniously exploited, to minimise the cost of manufacturing, to rationalise production using almost the same process and components, maximising the range of complimentary pieces of furniture; the aim is also to generalise and deliver a collection that can be partly customised, and utterly optimised through its accessories, all parts linked to a central visual identity that can potentially create a global and instinctive call, to be a “compulsive”customer buy (from only one purchase to a few, to many). In addition to the direct commercial aspect and possibly the strategic interest for the company to invest and even lead the outdoor furniture market, the valuable coherence of the products together with their aesthetic qualities is strongly attached to the core values and the visionary design, architecture and culture of the public brand.
