Hyères in southern France may not be a familiar design powerhouse. But every summer, the peaceful town of Villa Noailles becomes a place of pilgrimage for designers from all over the world – since 2006, Villa Noailles has hosted 11 Design Parades. Parade) design event. Here, you can see the most popular contemporary works in the field of French design, and there will also be a design competition with 10 young designers from all over the world. The rewards are also very "rich" - the winners will not receive high prize money, but will receive creative residency opportunities provided by the Ceramics Department of the National Manufacturing Museum (Sèvres) and the International Glass and Visual Arts Research Center (Cirva) in Marseille.

For Ineke Hans, the head of the competition jury and a senior Dutch designer, design can bring fun, but the designer is not a decorator, nor a decoration expert. "(We) are no longer only involved in design, but need to be more critical and actively participate in the design process and come up with macro strategies to launch more impactful products and projects," she admitted. So, will this judge, who used to be good at creating simple designs and focus on details, function and practical methods, prefer designers in the stratosphere, or will there be a big contrast and award the grand prize to the Serving the "high-tech" designer group of the future?

Among the participating designers, several have reflected on the theme of "home life" from different perspectives. For example, for Robin Bourgeois's "Chair Height" (À hauteur d'assise) series, the designer called on the industry to invent new objects with as much consideration as possible for their heritage potential. Interestingly, he was inspired by the earthiness of monastic life. He explained: “In 2018 I stayed at the Cistercian abbey in Ligugé to experience community life there. The seemingly extreme simplicity of life here is not actually a minimum 'necessity for survival'. It's the 'necessities' that make life peaceful and comfortable."

Thus, the "Chair Height" collection, from benches, rugs, trays to tableware, looks veryevery dayin form, but reinterprets a universal, almost forgotten tradition. "These everyday household appliances use very few materials to create durable properties. They feel as if they are living in nature and hope to cause users to pay attention and think about their surroundings."

Likewise, Stéven Coëffic's "Un moment de distraction fonctionnelle" series, also based on household items, uses "unexpected movements" to present the original Function. To turn on a light, for example, one needs to tilt it, or stack two items to use it, rather than going through a boring switch. The point is, they're all "low tech" products that don't require high tech, and thus play an interesting echo of the rusticity of their materials, such as pottery, glass or mahogany. "By 'transforming' the functional mechanisms in the impression of objects, I hope to make these objects more entertaining and replace the electronics of household products," he explained.

Camille Chapuis and Céline Déprez's "Super Solide" collection allows users to feel and think about the longevity of everyday items in the garden. "In the face of climate change, we think it's important to slow down so that we can reduce the consumption of resources," they said. "So we will try to use less technology and materials, while maintaining the comfort that people need to live in. We hope to use attractive design work to guide people to consciously change the habits of excessive consumption."
Therefore, common things in the garden: hedge trimmers, lawn mowers, woodchippers and other equipment are transformed into semi-mechanical and silent garden tools. This design not only effectively reduces noise, but is also lighter than electric equipment on the market, saving time and effort to use. For those who have fallen in love with gardening due to the restrictions of the epidemic, these designs are very important sustainable and environmentally friendly products, reducing noise while being more respectful of insects, plants and even neighbors.

When it comes to home design, there is always a rug. "Magic Tapestry" by Austrian designer Laura Lukas Dominici and "Crash.jpeg" by Polish designer Jonas Hejduk .jpeg) seem to fall into this category, but the final destination is beyond expectations.
The "magic" of the former comes from the fact that it can "fold" a small table, allowing users to sit cross-legged - the easiest way to instantly have a home office space. The idea of this design comes from a medieval king who always carried tapestries from one palace to another, this new era of "magic tapestries" coincides with the popular concept of digital nomads, becoming portable home office set. As for the latter, it can be seen from the suffix "jpeg" in the name of his work that the design inspiration must come from the network culture and graphic design in the digital age. In his opinion, to "collapse" people living in the Internet age, all it takes is a blurry digital image that is not high enough pixels. So he printed low-resolution pixel patterns on the carpet, trying to question the value of things in the digital age in a humorous and critical style. "I hope that through this design, I will break the gap between pop culture and intellectual culture, and create a reflective aesthetic with a light humor and mockery style, so that the ordinary and the extraordinary coexist," explained the designer.

Another potential work worth mentioning is the digital neo-aesthetic "Anima II" by Claire Pondard and Léa Pereyre . The work is shaped like a deep-sea creature, and surprisingly, this fascinating natural form comes from precisely choreographed robotic movements. "We worked with the Robotics Aesthetic Usability Center (RAUC) in Zurich and its animatronics platform from the beginning to code the creature's dynamics and generate the shape of the piece," explained the designers. The characteristics of the elastic material (polypropylene) used, the geometric and flat shapes in the design manuscripts are full of vitality and spirituality after they are turned into entities. With the help of the built-in mechanical stretching of the rope penetrating his body, "Anima II" suddenly came to life, roaming gently in the air, surprising the viewers.
Perhaps, "Anima II" can only be used as a decorative art at present, but this piece is already exploring the possibility of using robotic tools to create a sense of life. On June 26, the piece has become the winner and public vote winner of the new Design Parade design competition. In addition, the jury's special award went to Steven, who designed the "manual opening" furniture. In fact, both of them show that in the new normal of home life, the furniture with the function of "relieving boredom" will have great market potential.

Article Source:艺术与设计

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