A young girl without aspirations, a grown woman without dreams, forty four year old French industrial designer Matali Crasset is perhaps one of the very few people who live completely in the present. Her mother’s dream was for her to be a primary school teacher, but as she grew up she wanted to explore life.
In the 1980s she studied industrial design at Les Ateliers, Les Ecole Nationale Superieure de Creation Industrielle. At that time, this was the only school in Paris offering such a course. Upon graduation and armed with her degree, Crasset went to Milan to work with Denis Santachiara, an Italian self-taught designer and artist. She completed a six-month internship before returning to Paris fired with creativity.
It was then that she worked as director of Tim Thom, the design centre of Thompson Multimedia, alongside Phillipe Starck who was the creative director. In 1997, the city of Paris awarded Crasset the Grand Prix du Design. This award recognises design and its influence in different fields and was given to her for some of her many impressive artworks. In 1998, she set up her own studio and unleashed all the artistic aspirations of the true Matali Crasset.
As the location for her design centre she chose an old printing works in the heart of Belleville, Paris. Today, she still works in the same building; amongst a community she calls family. With a small group of like-minded designers, it is here that her projects are conceived. “I don’t want to manage a big team,” Crasset explains, “I work in very different fields and I don’t have any limits.” Her projects encompass everything from lighting, dinnerware, mirrors and more recently hotels, where she designs everything to the last detail. Detail is something Crasset knows a lot about.
International acclaim has followed her many and diverse commissions. In a project for Tefal, she created a device that fuses a coffeepot, a kettle and a toaster all in one. On the other end of the design spectrum, When Jim Comes to Paris is a solution for accommodating guests when there is no spare bedroom. An alternative to a sofa bed, this comfortable mat can be rolled up and stored for when ‘Jim’ next visits.
Niche projects aside, of great interest to Crasset is how people react to their surroundings, and in turn how surroundings adapt to human presence. Perhaps her exhibition at the Chelsea-based Rabih Hage gallery in London says it best. Under the title of Another Logic of… Crasset created tables, chairs and lighting that respond to any changes in surroundings, by moving or changing colour. In addition, Crasset’s video and light installation, Spring City explores the relationship between humans and the environment, and serves as an analogy for the impending effects of global warming.
Crasset’s sophistication of design is definitely evident through her projects. Certainly it is rather difficult to classify her style. She herself refuses to be labelled as anything in particular. “I think in terms of intention rather than style,” Crasset explains. “I am more interested in working with the typology of things, on the relationship between the components of an object.”
However, although her designs appear to be simplistic, the actual design concept is an arduous task. Unlike other designers, Crasset plans this process rather differently. “It begins by listening and being in touch with constraints. I like to go deep into the context in order to be free to think, and to be sure that at the end it will fit.” By doing so, Crasset ensures that all ends of a project will tie up and any unforeseen obstacles will be dealt with along the way.
Her most important project to date, and of which she is very proud, is a newly opened Hi-Hotel in Nice, designed completely with the word ‘contemporary’ in mind. Confined to a limited space, truly futuristic rooms and facilities have been recreated in bright neon shades. It is safe to say that with less, Crasset has created much, much more. Firstly, no two rooms are alike. This was no small feat but Crasset managed it by playing with the colour palette. One room is designed completely in white, with crisp white sheets and a pearly white bathtub; a second room is designed in shades of blue and green squares; but yet another room appears to come straight out of a Spanish hacienda – in deep shades of yellow and orange. Even the roof has been used to accommodate a mini artificial beach, with trees and a small swimming pool that overlooks the city of Nice. A traditional Arabian hammam has been injected with a sense of the future in its design with angular fittings and vivid colours. It is this project that satisfies her the most. A hotel complete with music, images and art, creates a well-rounded venue where people can escape from everyday life. “The fact that this project is evolving, with an open space for business meetings [and] a beach,” makes it one of a kind.
Her fresh ideas, inspired by the meaning of life, have taken the world by storm. Crasset is constantly working on new principles when working with space and everyday objects. Crasset also collaborates with DJs, people from the textile industry, graphic designers, architects and furniture designers, to ensure that her unique vision is transferred into all types of design.
Crasset is definitely an industrial designer to follow. Plans are underway to go international and open Dar-Hi, a guesthouse located in the south of Tunisia. For a designer so consumed in her own chaotic world of shapes and colours, it comes as no surprise that her definition of luxury is “silence and time.”
Matali Crasset Productions
26 rue du Buisson Saint Louis
Paris, France
+33 1 42 40 99 89
HYPERLINK "http://www.matalicrasset.com" www.matalicrasset.com
