How did you open your studio?
A school friend asked me if I wanted to work with him to create furniture. Then we won the Atéliers d'art de France contest. People suddenly wanted to buy our work, but we didn’t have a workshop. We set up a workshop in one month. We got a bank loan, found a space and bought machines.
What do you specialise in?
We created thermoformable wood, inflatable wood and a softwood that we call WooWood. We are the only ones to make these. We developed these materials that are in fact composite materials, made of rubber, wood and glue. We had to work with adhesive engineers to develop some of them to find the right cohesion and chemistry.
© Sophie Zénon pour la Fondation Bettencourt Schueller
Does any moment stand out in your career to date?
It’s an immense feeling of joy when we receive a phone call announcing that we have a prize, such as the Bettencourt Prize. This is the highest distinction I have received, and the one I coveted the most. So inevitably, that day I was floating as if on another planet.
What does it mean to you when something is well made?
To respect the materials, to respect the people who taught us these trades with the greatest attention to detail, to respect the tree which was cut and try as much as possible to magnify it to its fullest. It's respect for all that, and for the time it takes to make it.