LAB #3(42) 2008

Matali Crasset _ I prefer life and live relations | Interview prepared by Maria Sazonova and Eugenia Bakhturova | Photo © Andr é Morain, © Patrick Gries, © Uwe Spoering | Portrait © Justin Morin | Materials provided by Francis Fichot, Matali Crasset productions | Ma- tali Crasset is an action person. She has interests endless in variety. Can she invent something that does not exist? Easily. Participate in an exhibition together with the artist? With pleasure. Provoke? Any time! The experimental approach is as characteristic of her, as is the dedication to classics of some others; she cannot have it differently and she excitedly talks about her first project with the same energy and pleasure as she talks about her last one. That is, the completed projects do not retreat into the realm of legends and letters of thanks – they still develop and excite her. Matali does not try to hold for anyone; having worked with Philippe Starck and his team, in a very respected team, to say the least, she decided to design her own projects. And it was worth it. Today she has a background of a number of impressive objects, a dozen of interiors (and about a dozen underway), exhibitions, scenography, etc. She has no time to be bored. Meanwhile she runs back and forth as if she had an engine, with splashes of joy all around her, and critics try to explain and take notes on the nature of her objects; she is used to hearing sociological inter- pretations and discussions of the relation between design and the consumer. She is referred to as the futurist sphinx, for no matter how hard others try to systemize her projects and fit them into the normal world of grown-up people, she does some trick and breaks all theoretical reasoning. And even she is some – ty years old, she is still a girl with a funny hairdo, who learns life empirically and is not afraid of offering to do the same to people around. In one of your interviews you have said that de- sign is a category of movement. Are your projects a directed action or an unexpected chaotic one? In which direction are you moving now? I ammore interested in concept such as modu- larity, flexibility, conviviality, hospitality… rather than to work on the esthetic. Life is chaos but creation needs at the opposite a real structure to end up with a good project. Philippe Starck has recently said that he will give up design for several years, because design is dead. Provocative behaviour and compromising projects are characteristic of him. Many editions refer to you as his apprentice; however you deny revolutionism and sensational news. What do you think about the vitality of design and experiments in this area? It’s true that the industrial design is nearly dead in Europe but it opens a lot of direction to apply our creativity. I like to do very different project and I have no limit of intervention. What influence did this experience of cooperating with Starck have on you?

Working with Starck was like a fairy tale. After graduated from les Ateliers – Ensci – the only national school in France of industrial design at that time – I first worked with Denis Santachiara during 6 months. Back to France, I send 3 letters and I was very luck at Starck was looking for new collaborators for the Thomson multimedia adventure. I became head director the design center of Thomson, Tim Thom, managing 25 peoples and it was a great experience. We had to draw around 100 electronic objects from TV to radio. The context of the Tim Thom was very specific because I took part to the Starck studio but I was in Thomson and these project there was so many project that the designers had the chance to propose their own projects. When the Thomson multimedia projects I decide to develop my own projects. I know that your first project When Jim Came to Paris is your favourite one. In it you reveal the contents, putting the form aside. Do you think that shape does not conform to function? Please tell more about the project When Jim Came to Paris. Jim belongs to the series «Matali’s Friends», a set not of friendly objects, but of objects belong- ing to or meant for my friends. I developed this project in conjunction to my work at Tim Thom, the integrated design cen- tre of Thomson Multimedia. At that time, I was deeply fascinated by electronics and rather un- enthusiastic at the idea of creating furniture. Form is not my first concern, my furniture does not rely on double functionality, but on a new classification, a new approach to the utilization and the behaviours linked to furniture. While the wardrobe has changed, furniture has for the most part remained the same as it was in our grandparents’ times. The questions inspiringmy work are thus: how can we rethink house space? How do we infuse hospitality and generosity into our living environment ? How can we reconceive small spaces ? My guiding principle was to take the opposite course of what was my everyday activity, which consisted in developing global market products. I decided to design a set of objects using the specificities of real or imagined friends as founding elements. Moreover, I wanted to offer an alternative solution to the sofa bed. To me, the convert- ible couch relies on an idea that is impossible, because it is cruel and ungenerous. I wished to give «Jim» an object meant for him alone, so as not to transform another object only while he stayed in Paris. Jim is an answer to the cramped space of Parisian apartments, a way to accomodate a friend in the best conditions when there is no spare bedroom. The first concept-drawing for «When Jim comes to Paris» was made in 1995.