Bouroullec Brothers: A creative dialogue between two radical moderns, The

Graphis, Jul/Aug 2003 by Braunstein, Chloe

Today, their design program spans a highly diversifed range of activities, from furniture and objects for Vitra, Cappellini, Rosenthal and Magis, to industrial products for such brands as Seiko and Tefal. They also contribute to the fashion world, notably for Issey Miyake's A-Poc boutique (see Graphis issue #333, May/June 2001). This diversity reveals their skill at adding what is becoming known as "the Bouroullec touch" to a number of sectors of activity. Changing back and forth from crafts to industry, their design products range in size from small domestic articles to architectural elements. This forces them to juggle between different scale ratios, something they feel favors and enhances the links between their various projects. As such, some of the projects correspond with each other, thanks to the self-defined "intellectual hygiene" operated on them to make certain aspects coincide and incorporate a mixture of influences. These frequent conversions between projects of a highly different nature bring freshness into their work. Thus Erwan points out: "Since our work covers several diciplines, you could say we're not specialized in any one of them, it gives us the advantage of seeing everything in a new light." Ronan adds: "Our vision is never predefined, never fixed. What interests us is to work on new problems in a free and intuitive fashion." In fact, the brothers admit that they broach their projects through "little tales"-invented stories that come through in the humor and pertinent quality of the objects bearing their signature.

Their sources of inspiration are varied. Of course, they admire Italian Design-above all in the person of Ettore Sottsass-underscoring the latter's unflagging capacity to deal with a multitude of problems with the help of a mixture of supports, sites and materials, and to make seamless transitions between handicrafts and industry. American design is also high on their list, with such "greats" as George Nelson, Charles and Ray Eames, as well as Donald Judd-his Chinati Foundation in Marfa (Texas) and his site-specific art. Other influences, more literary and dream-related, are just as unassuming as they themselves. They mention the work of the French writer Georges Perec, author of several object-focused works like Species of Spaces; Life, A User's Manual and Things. Likewise, the simplicity and directness of Francis Ponge: his infinitely exhaustive poems celebrating soap, sponges and matches appeal to them.

The Bourroullec brothers have no favorite materials, intent as they are on exploring the wealth of possibilities open to them: potter's clay, leather, glass, metal and textiles. The European design world has decreed that there are no new shapes under the sun. Ronan and Erwan, however, scorn projects whose creativity is based merely on the use of the new "intelligent" materials. To their mind, an object's quality derives from a far more complex alchemy than mere technical or technological innovation.

They themselves seek to inject their objects with significance, lend them some historical weight, a soul. This is what lies behind the clean, soft and slender lines of their silent "Vases combinatoires"; Erwan's soothing "Lit clos" (closed bed) for Cappellini-a combination children's cabin and something a Robinson Crusoe might dream up; the Morris-ish elegant armchairs "Glide" and "Spring," also for Cappellini; their "Smak" necklace offering a witty play on the Sony walkman headphones; and, finally, their growing interest in "micro-architectures," the subject of various research projects and workshops for several years now. Ronan insists: "Being new in terms of technology or typology is not what justifies an object. Nor does novelty for the sake of novelty legitimate anything! If a designer produces an object that has never before been seen, that doesn't mean the object is 'right.' 'Rightness' is a different matter: It has more to do with the exchange of ideas than with the simple, artificial 'injection' of a material or technique. Perhaps that makes radicals of us. In that case, radicals in a modern vein."