Going around in circles… This is now the healthy occupation of many designers.
This is what the exhibition
Design × durable × desirable, the art of responsible living shows
!
at the French Design Gallery, in Paris.
This event is a continuation of a study undertaken by Le French Design by Via, which explores the mechanisms at work among manufacturers, publishers and designers to make their activity more responsible.
This work gave rise to notebooks of inspiration which make it possible to understand how the professionals of this sector seize the ecodesign, this way of developing a product by taking into account its impact from its creation until its end. of life.
And, among the tools to lighten the footprint of furniture and other accessories that equip homes, there is the circular vision, i.e. the art and the way of recycling and using waste in order to fit into a circle. virtuous aiming to get out of the linear equation “extract – transform – throw away”.
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But that's not all.
“Certainly the choice of materials is central in the design of a design object, and opting for recycled materials is obviously very positive.
But it is also necessary, at the same time, to minimize the quantities used and reduce transport, therefore having a more local strategy”, develops Jean-Paul Bath, director of French Design by Via.
And that's still not enough!
“Thinking about the lifespan of the product is at the heart of everything.
Today, the designer can no longer design the ephemeral, the quickly damaged and outdated, continues Jean-Paul Bath.
He must therefore focus on quality.
A quality product does not lose value over time.
On the contrary, it wins, so we don't put it in the trash: we pass it on, we resell it.
And when it is too worn to serve, it should be easily recycled.
This implies being able to dismantle it to separate the different materials which will then have other uses.
For this we will favor screws with glue, solid wood that can be recut over veneer that does not support a second life... All this must be put in place from the drawing.
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The Climate Table by Raphaël Ménard and Jean-Sébastien Lagrange makes it possible to attenuate thermal fluctuations.
Veronique Pecheux
The room map
The inflatable cells of the Hilly mat by Élise Fouin also allow you to sit on it.
Elise Fouin
Élise Fouin, who is one of the pioneer designers in terms of the use of waste (her end-of-study project at the École Boulle concerned the reuse of scrap paper), summarizes this approach as follows: "An object should no longer to be a gas plant!”
The decryption of this cry from the heart?
“I now envisage creation far from any fixed scheme and in a spirit of simplicity.
Choosing recycled or natural materials is a given, an evidence.
I now add to this base a
low tech philosophy,
be as little material as possible, lightness, everything that makes transport and use easier.
My creations can be disassembled, stacked, are easy to move.
I have never made a 300 kg marble table!
I do not forbid it, but, for the moment, I no longer want to design clever systems like branches of soliflores which fold down to fit better into a box.
The designer has a responsibility towards the planet
Sam Baron, designer
Élise Fouin has also undertaken a Tour de France of know-how and produces signed limited series with French workshops.
“I don't see the point of having containers manufactured at the end of the world and circulating containers across the oceans, when we have incredible techniques at our fingertips and the men and women who fight to bring them to life.
This is one of the eco-responsible issues of tomorrow: relocating so as not to lose these gestures.
The Natacha & Sacha Traces heating mat.
Press office
Art and matter
Same eagerness to catalyze eco-design from designer Sam Baron.
“This is not a recent problem, but until recently, we considered it instinctively.
There was, for example, a wave of cardboard furniture.
It was neither beautiful nor solid…, therefore not really eco-responsible.
In the 2010s, I did a lot of research on the subject, but without finding a solution.
My approach has finally matured and I now think that eco-responsibility must be understood not only through the material, but through the way of doing it.
As soon as a designer takes up his pencil to give shape to an object, he must ask himself how it is going to be made, transported… disassembled, what it will become when it is no longer useful.
The designer has a responsibility towards the planet.
We have to manage to calm consumption, to make it more thoughtful, but for the moment, eco-responsible products are still too expensive.
But the innovations are numerous.
It's up to us to seize it.
Changing one's practices takes effort, causes frustration, but it's also what makes our work exciting.”
Nuages rug by Sam Baron, made with scraps from the textile industry.
Press office
It is with this energy and in this state of mind that Sam Baron recently designed his Nuages rugs for the Portuguese brand Gur.
“I used leftover cotton rolls from local industries, the challenge being to create from a limited choice of colors,” he explains.
When we are part of an economy of means, we always open up new creative horizons!
This was the case with the chandeliers I just signed for Diptyque.
They are made 60 km from Paris, by a craftsman who recovers construction wood and turns it.”
Sam Baron has also collaborated with Noma, a design publishing house that clearly displays its eco-responsibility.
“I am very proud of the Pedra candle holders that I
I made for Noma with a sedimentary earth which is above the marble and which we get rid of.
When I became interested in this rock, the quarry lady said to me: “Thank you, you remove the rubble from the path!”
By their weight, their presence, these objects have become icons when they are made with pebbles that at first sight have nothing sexy about them.
On the Noma website, it is specified in large and bold letters that Pedra candle holders are made with 99.6% recycled materials.
Because at Noma, we don't mess with numbers.
are nothing at first glance sexy.
On the Noma website, it is specified in large and bold letters that Pedra candle holders are made with 99.6% recycled materials.
Because at Noma, we don't mess with numbers.
are nothing at first glance sexy.
On the Noma website, it is specified in large and bold letters that Pedra candle holders are made with 99.6% recycled materials.
Because at Noma, we don't mess with numbers.
The life cycle of an object
The “32” stool by Solum Lignum, created with scrap wood.
Press office
“For us, impact measurement is essential, explains Bruce Ribay, co-founder with Guillaume Galloy of this hardline company labeled B Corp.
We approach it from the design phase and in a very serious way.
From the designers' first drawings, we involve the specialized firm Coopérative Mu.
It analyzes upstream and in partnership with manufacturers the life cycle of the product.
Depending on the results, we request modifications.
The impact is linked to the raw materials, of course, but also to the places of manufacture (with us, it is 75% made in France and the rest is made in Europe), to the reversible fasteners which allow easy dismantling, to repairability.
We also try to avoid chemicals.
Finally, we are getting closer to
professional integration workshops.
Our goal is to push the levers in terms of eco-responsibility and ethics to the maximum.”
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Beautiful and durable: the Noma credo
Edited by Noma, the Arca console signed RDAI, created with travertine stone residues, 100% recyclable.
Press office
This commitment is beneficial to their partners.
Firstly, to designers who, if they wish, have the opportunity to follow a training module on these issues and who can also be inspired by Noma's formidable eco-responsible material library, which has 300 references and is regularly enriched thanks to a permanent vigil.
We are convinced that eco-responsible design must be ultra-desirable.
It is through this that the consumer will switch to a more responsible purchase
Bruce Ribay
Subcontractors are also pushed in the right direction: Noma's demanding specifications force them to improve their process.
“All the stakeholders in Noma's projects are federated around one idea: to make 'beautiful'.
We are convinced that eco-responsible design must be ultra-desirable.
It is through this that the consumer will switch to a more responsible purchase, believes Bruce Ribay.
Of course, there is also the question of price.
Admittedly, we make high-end furniture and objects, but not art editions, we don't release two signed copies at 80,000 euros.
It is not our mission.
Our ideas must be feasible on an industrial scale”, concludes Bruce Ribay.
An increased lifespan for creations
For its manufacture, the Tamu chair by Patrick Jouin uses as little space and material as possible.
Thomas Duval
While structures also involved in eco-design from A to Z are still rare, many initiatives are emerging.
This is what the exhibition “Design × sustainable × desirable, the responsible art of living!” shows.
The thirty pieces presented illustrate the efforts to combine responsible inventions, aesthetic qualities and also forward-looking visions.
“A designer is turned towards the future, he has more than any other antennas which allow him to capture the evolution of practices, enthuses Jean-Paul Bath.
To prolong the life of his creations, he will think about how we can modify them to adapt them to new settings or uses.
Thus, we will only change the front elements of a cupboard when we want to bring it up to date.
A table will become a desk.
A seat will move up and down as needed.
And that's not all, the robustness of the products, the possibility of removing them for easy cleaning will make it possible to intensify their use via rental or sharing systems.
So let's hope that with the progress of eco-design and the possibility of transmitting, transforming and reinventing one's furniture, the era of the disposable sofa and the abandonment of sofas on a piece of pavement will soon come to an end.
It's urgent !
eco-design and the possibility of transmitting, transforming and reinventing one's furniture, the era of the disposable sofa and the abandonment of sofas on a piece of pavement will soon be coming to an end.
It's urgent !
eco-design and the possibility of transmitting, transforming and reinventing one's furniture, the era of the disposable sofa and the abandonment of sofas on a piece of pavement will soon be coming to an end.
It's urgent !
With its cereal waste seat, the Instead Mobilier stool.
Frank Grossel
“Design × sustainable × desirable, the responsible art of living
!”, until July 13
, at the French Design Gallery, 120, avenue Ledru-Rollin, 75011 Paris.
lefrenchdesign.org
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