This project is an ode to the small gestures and the charm they embody. The gesture of picking a flower on a hike. Of taking it home, pl acing it into a vase. The beauty of turning a fallen branch into a walking stick, may be tying a rope around. Of putting materials together I find at my atelier . A stainless steel tube with a very particular form I bought a few years back at Weber Metaux, from their former lovely shop in the heart of the city. A cord from Mokuba, another shop in Paris selling ribbons made in Japan, and a cap of a Copic pen I misuse as a tip for the cane.

As part of the Walking Sticks & Cane exhibition curated by Keiji Takeuchi.

For Blond Laboratory exhibition in Milan, I was asked to respond to an artefact proposed by Blond.

The balancing bird is probably attractive for many reasons, and holds various inspiration cues that I could have focused upon, and I find myself fascinated by figuration within objects. However, ultimately, I decided to explore the extreme equilibrium as a decorative element—to see if I could make use of this phenomenon.

Why balancing an object? The idea is simple: to balance a standard lighter and thereby transforming it into a playful and decorative item. A modest function is achieved—an object that we often misplace finds its place in our home. Also, it prevents guests from (accidentally) leaving with the lighter, a scenario that unfortunately occurs too frequently. The resulting concept is a small, friendly, and humorously helpful object.

O’Step questions the traditional construction of a ladder, setting aside the logic of assembly to carve its uprights from a single panel of bamboo. The succession of large circular perforations redefines the archetype of the object, in favor of a simple yet equally iconic silhouette.
Digital cutting ensures the precision of the object’s geometry. The internal structure of the panel is revealed and embellished with graphic details on each slice.
Nevertheless, O’Step remains a craft object, whose sensitivity is expressed above all in the finishing work of the material, tinted with a tart yellow shade that recalls freshly cut bamboo.

Interior design of a room and bathroom for the artist residency Porta Rossa at Kastellorizo, Greece.

Isla is the first outcome of the collaboration with Nouvel Studio. It is an original collection of vases in blown glass which celebrates glassblowers’ manual know-how as much as the great chromatic richness of the material.
The fruit of a year’s research in glassblowing workshops, the Isla vase was produced in two sizes and comes in a vast number of colour combinations, each of them marked by Mexico’s colourful environment. Glass has a unique ability to capture light and transmit colour, from the most aquatic to the deepest hue. These colours blend, overlap, match or clash, shimmering freely amongst each other. An infinite spectrum is to be discovered: more a variation of the possible than an authoritarian choice.
The designed typology is simple: an oval vase adorned with a circle. It is within the fixed geometry of this framework—with the idea of tending towards a perfect yet unattainable circle—that the delicacy of the project is expressed, making each piece unique.

My relationship with La Manufacture de Cogolin started in 2014 with a flat weaving carpet unique piece, inspired by moroccan rugs, where the patterns seemed to be evolving as the weaving progressed.

Based on sections of that prototype, the five Binaire raffia rugs offer a range of irregular patterns. The Jacquard weaving technique is, in a way, the ancestor of computer programming, as it uses perforated cards to direct the movements of each thread to reproduce a design.

The result is a collection of vibrant and ethereal textures, with drawing that seem to change according to the viewer’s distance or perspective. I like the way these patterns somehow look digital, while the object in its materiality, made with natural fibers, says something different.

Casa Wabi is a residency located in Mexico, along the pacific coast of Oaxaca state. The Tadao Ando building is a retreat for artists. It offers facilities to interact and develop a project with the local community. I stayed there 5 weeks between August and September 2017.

I was pared with Don Pablo, a palm weaved furniture maker from Mechoacan, a small mountain village two hours drive away form casa wabi. We developed together a range of three large screens using the palm weaving technic. Thin metallic structures were covered with palm, using various pattern of weaving in order to offer distinct degree of transparency, from traditional pattern to innovative kind of waving.

The curved screens draw rooms in large spaces, offering privacy while protecting from sun and wind. The collection reflect the life in warm region, where the limit between inside and outside is blurred.

The pieces show the result of the exchanges we had together with the craftsmen, as work-in-progress object more than product: they are unique pieces. I’m sure it was fruitful collaboration for both side, in the way it opens new territories.

Mr Brunel from Tectona came to me with a very open yet simple brief: create a table and chair collection for its outside furniture company, using mainly teck wood and simple technology, archiving a distinctive yet classical furniture.

Based on this recommandation, I started to draw.

Simple wooden slats compose the table top and seat. I enriched the material involved by adding the granit as tabletop for the round table.

The steel structures are a combination of curves, carefully crafted to gives an attitude to the furniture pieces, like the armrest of the chair that seams to opened-up to welcome you in its seat.

The collection is sympathetic, easy and elegant in the same time, with a subtle romantic touch.

Commissioned by the Danish luminaire brand Louis Poulsen, Cité is a pendant for high positions in large rooms such as halls and auditoriums. It is 80 cm high and made of six curved shades, offset from each other.

The structure distributes the light internally and creates an interplay of light, with the curved surfaces illuminated gradually and harmoniously.

There is no symmetry in the object, making the lamp different from all angle and adding a dynamic pattern to the room when displayed in a group. I like the idea of repetition but with subtiles variations.

The lamp is quiet enough to fit many spaces and type of architecture, but in the same time it has its own character, its own identity, to contribute and bring something special to the general atmosphere.

Wallpaper magazine invited me to design a piece especially for their yearly milanaise exhibition Handmade. I was paired with Coverings ETC, a Miami based manufacturer of material such as terrazzo, marble or glass.

The project started with a box of samples I received from them. My interest went directly to the Bioglass, a recycled glass material with a beautiful inner structure and color range – crystal white, light turquoise, or deep green… all reminding us the original use of glass bottles.

For the Handmade exhibition, I have designed a space-divider that uses the Bioglass panels as a structural element. I like the idea of it being a decorative architectural element that serves also as a shelf.

The screen play with transparency and with the translucence of the material. It is based on a play of showing or hiding, in a rhythmic, almost kinetic way. I like to create a certain idea of movement in static objects.

This project was realized in collaboration with La Manufacture Cogolin, a traditional manufacturer of carpets in the south of France.

Just some time before I started working on this project I had visited an exhibition about moroccan carpets at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich. I was enchanted by the way patterns were constructed  and interpretated in a very liberated way and asked myself how to translate the richness and depth I found in these unique carpets into a reproductible product.

I started with a simple pattern which was then fragmented, manipulated and reassembled to give the impression the pattern was developed and constructed during the weaving process.

We choose to craft the carpet in flat waving technique using cotton and raffia to translate the lines of my drawings in the most accurate way.

I was given the chance to realise a vase during a one year residency at the Research Center on Art and Glass (CIRVA) in Marseille. The Vases Oreilles’combine two manufacturing techniques: blown glass and fused glass and are a series of varying sizes and colours.

Flowers in a vase are about joy. It is an oportunity to work on an object that exist for its beauty. Not more.

I am fascinated by the profoundness of the colours and the way glass captures and transmits light. Wheather transparent or translucent it has quite an important presence in its environment. I intuetively focused on colours and tried to find an interesting support for colour compositions.

Depending on the viewing angle the vases reveal a new colour proportion.

The Vase Coque was realized parallel to the Vases Oreilles during my residency at CIRVA. The vase is composed of two parts of different colour which interlock to shape a container. This typology, just as the Vases Oreilles, gives me the possiblility to play with a wide range of colour combination.

My idea to create a two coloured vase made out of two seperate parts seemed to be an efficient solution to me, but turned out to be a real challenge for the glass blowers at the CIRVA. Driven by this challenge the craftsman tried many different approaches and in the end managed to obtain an almost flawless exemplar.

Dyade is a long pendant composed of two indivual parts: a luminous ring and a white reflector that diffuses the light.

The word Dyade means a pair of things standing in particular relation. Dyade explores the contrast and relation between full and empty space, between the inner and outer, the light and shadow.

Sensible to is environment the elements of the lamp rotate likewise those of a Mobile. The slowly changing light makes the breath of air visible. It soft light and slight movement give the lampe Dyade a welcoming presence.

Sévres – Cité de la céramique – is a traditional french manufacture of porcelain with a rich history dating back to 18th century. I had the chance to realise a project with the craftsman in Sevres during a residency which was part of the Design Parade price.

I was facinated by the skills and the precision of the craftsman, especially on the potter’s wheel. The thin and sharp edges of the bowl, the delicate curves and the soft whiteness of the porcelain express the quality of the material and excellence of the manufacture.

I drew a duo of bowls in porcelain which play with the equilibrium. The bowls capture a moment of perfect balance which changes as we place objects inside of them.

Thalie is a collection of containers made of flat sheet metal held together by a thin thread of metal wire. The collection is based on a dialogue between an industrial process and an artisanal finalization.

Fascniated by the properties and the sharpness of thin spring steel sheet, I sensed the potential to create something as delicate as knitted or laced objects I had found in a book called «Ouvrages des Dames».

Chemical etching allows to cut a sheet of spring steel in a very precise manner.  The two-dimensional elements are then manually transformed into volumes which shapes reslut from the natural tension of the material. Irregular and sensual shapes result from a at first very mechanic drawing.

Armand is a decorative object exploring the soft focus phenomenon, and more particularly the resultant mix of colours.

I conveyed this effect by placing different paper cut-outs together. Just like the soft focus, the colours vibrate with each other and the boundaries of the object become blurred. It is a piece of research in the sense that it was conducted empirically, by toing and froing between the drawing, photo and model.

The resultant feeling is the expression of a colour vibration. I like the idea of Armand being an «environmental enriching object».

Fierzo is a desk organizer designed for the italian company Alessi. I used the bent metal wire as one of the technique of Alessi factory which allows me to litterally draw in space.

The two bent metal wires are maintained together by clips surrounding a wooden base. Paper sheets can be hold and presented between the two steel frames in a playful way.

Fierzo exist in two sizes: the small model is more like a photo frame or card holder, while the large model can be use as a desk seperator.