French designers Audrey Large and Théophile Blandet: «we use digital image manipulation tools: digital manufacturing is an area for bridging virtual and physical through objects»
Design in Metamorphosis, Centre d’Art Contemporain in Geneva
The Design in Metamorphosis exhibition, hosted by the Centre d’Art Contemporain in Geneva until 13 August and sponsored by Nilufar Gallery, is a psychedelic journey into the artistic research of Audrey Large – represented by the Milanese gallery – and Théophile Blandet. The first institutional exhibition devoted to the work of the two young French designers in Switzerland further expands the themes and considerations of the previous group show, Chrysalis: The Butterfly Dream (2023), exploring the concept of mutability from a wide range of different formal, existential, and political angles.
«Design is in constant metamorphosis, it shows the contemporary state of society. Putting up an exhibition like this is like writing an essay with an alphabet of forms and materials. In the past the language was different and in the future new letters of this alphabet will be added and some removed», explains Blandet.
Audrey Large and Théophile Blandet – tangible and intangible, real and fictitious
These physical and perceptual changes are condensed in the works of Large and Blandet, capable of combining opposite poles such as tangible and intangible, real and fictitious, durable and ephemeral.
«Design is not about problem solving, function, or mass production. It is more about using objects as spaces to resist the standardization – pervasive via both ubiquitous technologies of vision and mass-produced designed objects. Objects have the power to exist as intermediate places whose surfaces challenge our binary perception of reality», states Large.
Audrey Large – 3D modeling and 3D printing in polylactic acid
Large sculptures come from a fluid process mixing hand drawings, 3D modeling and 3D printing in polylactic acid (PLA). These otherworldly objects are configured as physical transpositions of mental images which, without the aid of technology and additive manufacturing – which allows for the creation of more complex shapes than subtractive techniques do – would continue to live only in the imagination of their creator.
«I use computers as a tool to create a new reality. There is no hierarchy between hand drawings, 3D models and printing. But I do not see the object as a final result, rather as a step in a larger iterative line of transformation».
Large sculptures emerge as mysterious presences from the white walls and rough floors of the museum challenging the audience’s perception in a variety of ways. «Many may ask “Who made them? The man or the computer?”. I don’t want to fuel a dichotomy between these two entities, but to blend them into a single methodology. I like the idea of fostering a sort of ambiguity around my works, freeing myself from stuck narratives. They are futuristic objects, but also baroque. It is impossible to understand them, but this does not prevent us from establishing a connection», states the artist.
Audrey Large on digital image manipulation tools
Although all the sculptures are different from each other, it is possible to recognize some recurring shapes and colors. Over the years Large has in fact created a sort of digital archive of shapes, sketches and models, which can be rescaled, manipulated and assembled in thousands of different ways, exploiting all the freedom and possibilities offered by digital software. Coffee tables, lamps, chandeliers and sideboards, but also unique pieces without a precise function, difficult to pigeonhole into one category.
«Through a method which uses digital image manipulation tools as a means to rethink our ways to design matter and material surroundings – and thus the way we envision and perceive this matter -, digital manufacturing is an interesting area for bridging digital and physical realms through objects», claims Large. Some works seem to be the result of random combinations of forms and otherworldly objects, while others feature imperfect symmetries, which make the will and the rational contribution of the artist even clearer. What unites them all, is the industriousness of the technical process hidden behind the dreamlike atmospheres they convey.
«3d printing and 3d modeling software have been largely democratized during the past years. So everything I know, I learned by myself. Having my own machines and means of production allowed me to understand the process, play with its limits, approach it in the wrong way, fail and experiment. It is more about developing and seeking a personal visual language and approaching these tools in a sensitive way», says Large about her approach to digital manipulation and the extensive research which allowed her to become so familiar with the whole process.
Théophile Blandet: human craftsmanship with industrial techniques
One of Blanket’s first contributions to Design in Metamorphosis which visitors come across is PS (Wall Cabinet, 2018). A shelf with drawers made of different types of white and semi-transparent plastic behind whose façade, deliberately flawed, hides clever considerations on contemporary material culture. First of a series of objects born from the same concept, PS was created by assembling plastic scraps through traditional manufacturing techniques.
Wondering what value plastic will have in the future, Blandet has elevated the material – usually produced industrially – by making it the protagonist of a piece of high craftsmanship. «I think plastic is a misunderstood material, so I decided to draw a sort of parallel between it and materials in vogue in the 18th century, such as ivory or tortoiseshell, which are now banned from international trade», says Blandet.
Marco Rainò: juxtaposing sophisticated industrial production techniques with manufacturing processes
According to Marco Rainò – co-curator of the exhibition with Barbara Brondi –, the most characterizing aspect of Blandet’s practice is the ability to juxtapose industrial production techniques with manufacturing processes.
«In my atelier, where I produce everything by myself, I work with a limited set of basic tools. I use different industrial materials, such as industrial plastic waste and aluminum, which typically undergo heavy manufacturing and machining processes. Since I do not have access to those specific machines, I am exploring alternative methods of connecting, welding, and forming these materials. It is intensive handwork and as a result, I have developed my own repository of forms and techniques which enable me to sculpt my objects in a distinctive way, embracing the constraints of my tools and materials».
Human and post-human – Fountain of Money and Tea Fountain
The last room of the exhibition catapults visitors into his universe, halfway between human and post-human. Works such as Fountain of Money (2017), a mysterious sculpture dedicated to the exploration of the massive production of cryptocurrencies, or Tea Fountain (2020), bringing together the conviviality of the gesture of serving tea with a sophisticated system of pipes and fountains from which the drink flows, are an apt illustration of his pioneering vision.
«The process behind my objects is not arbitrary, but rather organic. When I start a new project I never know where it will end up. But their function must be clear, being a designer my approach is always user friendly», explains the designer.
Audrey Large x Théophile Blandet and the axioms of their research
The penultimate room is dedicated to a dialogue between Large and Blandet’s practices, both focused on the production process than on the final outcome. In the dim light two works created by Large during an artistic residency in Turin stand out. Two lamps with extraterrestrial features called Metamorphosis Signals (2023) – the third of the series is positioned at the end of the exhibition itinerary.
Abstract Strategy and Up, Charm, Top, Down, Strange, Bottom
The novelty of these works lies in the manipulation of textures, both in the design and post-production phases, which Large carried out through an in-depth research of textures within digital libraries, then applied on the surfaces through a hydro dipping process. These luminous sculptures are juxtaposed with two works co-designed and co-created by Large and Blandet, summarizing the axioms of their research: Abstract Strategy (Chess Game, 2019) and Up, Charm, Top, Down, Strange, Bottom (2022).
Man’s decision-making power: technology is like chess
The first is a plastic chessboard with sinuous legs in American walnut wood on which Large’s 3D printed pawns are placed. Blandet said of this work: «Chess has many rules, but it also allows for a lot of freedom of movement, giving ample space to man’s decision-making power». Just like the technological tools they use to design their pieces.
The second one is a circular chandelier which, hanging from long thin threads, almost touches the floor. The work is made up of six aluminum and resin elements – up, charm, top, down, strange and bottom, indeed – which in physics are considered the six flavors of the quark, a type of elementary particle and a constituent of matter. Here fluidity is expressed through the energy which passes from the wires to the chandelier through its six components, which are all essential for the passage of energy to occur.
Design in Metamorphosis: change is fluid
Perhaps fluidity is the watchword of this exhibition: the objects on display are fluid – halfway between reality and fiction -, the designers’ working method is fluid, and change is fluid, unstoppable and overwhelming. Design in Metamorphosis thus seems to be the manifesto of a new wave of design where technology and human creativity merge seamlessly and reinforce each other, and for which Large and Blandet act as spokespeople.
Audrey Large
Audrey Large currently lives and works in Rotterdam. She graduated from MA SocialDesign at Design Academy Eindhoven in 2017. Designer-in-Residence at the Jan Van Eyck Academy inMaastricht in 2019-2020, she won the Dutch DesignerAward in the Young Designer category in 2021. She works withMilan’s Nilufar Gallery, who dedicated her solo exhibition in 2021 and 2023.
Théophile Blandet
Théophile Blandet lives and works in Rotterdam. He graduated from MA Contextual Design at Design AcademyEindhoven in 2017. Winner in 2017 of theKick That Ass Award – Marteen Baas, he has exhibited in group shows at the DesignMuseum Den Bosch in s-Hertogenbosch as well as in major fairs such as Design Miami and FIAC in Paris. His WFC chair became part of the collection of LeCentre national des arts plastiques (Cnap) in France.
