Plato famously remarked that the first thing we see, if we see anything at all, is shape and color. After spending time with the generous design couple who founded A+A Design Studio at their atelier in Paris (talking philosophy, process, and community), it became readily apparent how much creativity and learning occurs after that first act.
It was, after all, a big day for Aki and Arnaud..
Carpenter’sWorkshop Gallery – a prestigious
gallery with showrooms in London, Paris, and
New York – was sponsoring a joint show
between Aki and Arnaud and Simone Prouve,
entitled Flexible Rigidity, which highlighted their
furniture and her weavings. Later that night,
on the occasion of Paris Design Week 2021,
the Mobilier National would present ‘Dans un
Nuage de Pixels’ (In a Cloud of Pixels),
collectively imagined and developed by Aki
and Arnaud and the artist Miquel Chevalier.
The latter project was five years in develop-
ment and brought forth several items: a rug
made by Manufacture de la Savonnerie, with
black, gray and white pixel patterns rendered
by seven colors of wool; a sofa and two low
chairs realized by Atelier de Recherche et de
Création (ARC - Mobilier National) and
garnished by Atelier de tapisserie décor
(Mobilier National) with a cotton fabric from
Dedar, printed by the company Prelle; and a magnifying polymethyl methacrylate coffee table, realized by the company Dacryl in consultation with the ARC - Mobilier National, which created a magnifying effect amplifying the material and technique of the Savonnerie rug upon which it was placed. On the ceiling was projected a pixelized video art installation of Miguel’s.
Or maybe it was just another day for these highly regarded designers who first met in Paris, where Arnaud was studying art and Aki was studying interior and product at the Ecole Camondo. Opening A+A Cooren design studio together in 1999, they have since worked for brands as varied as Shiseido, Artemide, ClassiCon, L’Oréal, Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres, Yamagiwa, Saint Louis, Boffi Bains, Cartier, and Vertigo Bird. Additionally, there are the awards. In 2007, the couple won a Villa Medicis Hors les Murs scholarship, allowing them to spend several months in Denmark to research “natural and artificial light.” And then in 2017, came the prestigious Liliane Bettencourt prize, which they shared with David de Gourcuff.
Either way, their success has not come by way of happenstance. Underpinning each is a design philosophy that has served them well.
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