Elise Fouin
In her curious studio, Elise Fouin is always ready to make concrete demonstrations. How has she molded all her sources of inspiration to crystallize such a singular work?
She comes from the Franche-Comté region where she grew up in a former monastery. She practices Plastic Arts, drawing, painting and dance. Here it is in balance with the benefits of the land and the desire for culture, between the do and the spirit. She trained at the Ecole Boulle in Paris, first in goldsmith's work, then moved from manufacturing to design, turning to furniture design. A double formation, like a balance, to find its point of equilibrium. For her diploma in 2003, she still takes a step aside, ventures successfully towards the implementation of paper, designer who gives himself the freedom of the artist. Because it is with her hands first that this designer tames matter. Unfamiliar with the unexpected, listening to the behavior of the materials, she bets on an unexpected shaping. The factories are one of its favorite playgrounds, where it tracks down falls and scrap. Paper, wood, metal, glass, fabric, and various plastics are his repentance. There are also preferences for neglected, untapped materials, but they bear no traces of demonstrative re-employment. They are transfigured, thanks to reformulated typologies combined with new technology. Since then, she has built her business in different directions. This researcher, always on standby to nourish her personal laboratory, experiences everything. Used to create at different scales, she collaborates with brands, publishers, and institutions. The designer has more than one round of objects and scenographies in her boxes.
Forestier is the company that gave the designer wings, with her fluttering lamps! As a headstrong busybody, here she unearthed lampshade frames, which, mise en abyme, transform into Papillons (Butterflies) pendant ceiling lights, with various curves. They dance with the deceptive Circus, which one would think was made of paper but which is actually made of Priplak lampshade offcuts. Her personal production includes the Gigotte, inspired by the paper boots used on legs of lamb and the Lucinda a recycled polystyrene cocoon. A whole world of lighting is lit up. Elise Fouin knows how to blend ethereal light, another of her favourite materials, with solid aerial objects.
In 2017, she also participated in the Kyoto Contemporary program and made the suspension Saika to be exhibited in January 2018 on M & O.
From the collaboration with the craftsman Yoshishige Tanaka, master craftsman in Kyoto, the lighting Saïka is a sweet alliance between the techniques of Hyogu and Kakejiku. The tiles of washi papers surrounded by gradient cloth and strung on a beech stick, respect the codes of traditional Japanese prints. Here, however, the subtle wrinkles become full-fledged landscapes conducive to contemplation, as could be the hangings that were historically suspended in the habitat.
This project is finally almost 15 years after her formation the point of crystallization of her unique path that oscillates between the fields of matter, know-how and design.
In all the projects she has marked, there is play, lightness and mischievousness, with all the quality inherent to the design.
As a frank storyteller, she unfurls a marabout of poetic strings where art meets technique.
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