Ronan Bouroullec Reflects on Context, Communication and Collaboration for Friedman Benda's 'Design in Dialogue'

Ronan Bouroullec Reflects on Context,
  Communication and Collaboration for
  Friedman Benda’s ‘Design in Dialogue’
                                         By Nina Azzarello
                                           May 18, 2021

on april 1, 2020, new york gallery friedman benda initiated a series of online interviews
aimed at connecting individuals across the world with leading voices in the creative
field. design in dialogue is a conversational program hosted alternately by curator and
historian glenn adamson and designer stephen burks that engages with designers,
makers, critics, and curators as they reflect on their careers and creative processes.
against the backdrop of COVID-19 and global lockdowns, the conversations are held
virtually on zoom for 1 hour for anyone in the world to tune in to, and include a participatory
Q&A with the audience in attendance. friedman benda has since presented more than 90
episodes, and will continue with a lineup of future guests, each offering unparalleled
insight into the sensibilities, musings, and memories of today’s creative protagonists. see
our recent feature of sheila hicks on weaving cultural and creative exchanges,
and jacques herzog on architecture as a karmic discipline.

on may 5, 2021 design in dialogue welcomed one of the most prolific and influential
designers of our time, ronan bouroullec. ronan and his brother erwan have worked
together for nearly 25 years, where they have redefined the typology of a wide variety of

Nina Azzarello, “Ronan Bouroullec Reflects on Context, Communication and Collaboration for Friedman
Benda’s ‘Design in Dialogue’,” designboom, May 18, 2021.

objects and elements present across both domestic and urban spaces — from thermo-
welded glass furniture to an organic pergola structure in miami — through their singular
and poetic lens. above all, ronan is a craftsman — someone close to the materials and
processes that he personally shapes with a special attention to detail. his artistic and
creative approach is ‘free of any methodology’ he says, leaving room for intuition,
spontaneity and improvisation. speaking from his studio in paris in an interview conducted
by francisco torres in french, ronan delved into the collaborative relationship that he and
his brother share, his own personal preoccupation of drawing, and his one great fear.

watch the full video interview at the top of the page and stay tuned as designboom
continues to share design in dialogue features. see all past episodes — and RSVP for
upcoming ones — here.

vases for iittala for the exhibition ‘imperfections’ during during stockholm design week 2020. read more on
designboom here

the conversation kicked off with a revelatory introduction to the working dynamics at ronan
& erwan bouroullec’s studio in paris. ronan and erwan have divided their team of around
ten assistants into two — with each working more closely on dedicated specializations,
from model making and archiving to 3D printing and photography. ‘erwan and I have
worked together for almost 25 years now, so we have the life of a long-term couple, of an

Nina Azzarello, “Ronan Bouroullec Reflects on Context, Communication and Collaboration for Friedman
Benda’s ‘Design in Dialogue’,” designboom, May 18, 2021.

old couple,’ ronan laughs, ‘and the luck to have had many offers. so for years now, erwan
has focused on digital research, the electronic, particularly with samsung. the projects are
linked to long, complex research into mechanisms, in particular for office chairs. erwan
has this ability to stay highly focused for months on one idea, on one subject, which I’m
totally incapable of. I need to be doing 5,000 projects at once, to be doing the champs-
elysées fountains, reflecting on the layout of a new town, while also designing a teaspoon
and doing ceramic designs. so our attitudes, our approaches have been different of late.
our personalities are quite different, but we’ve had the good fortune of sharing, of
discussing everything that each of us is doing.’

 ‘nuage’ pergola in the miami design district | image by kris tamburello. read more on designboom here

forming the backdrop to ronan’s ‘design in dialogue’ presentation was a continuous
collage of imagery drawn from ronan’s personal instagram account — a self-described

Nina Azzarello, “Ronan Bouroullec Reflects on Context, Communication and Collaboration for Friedman
Benda’s ‘Design in Dialogue’,” designboom, May 18, 2021.

‘daily journal’ of projects he’s currently engaging in, and those from the archive. amassing
more than 300,000 followers, ronan spoke about how the communication of design
projects has evolved since he first began his practice. ‘when I started to work, which was
around 30 years ago, to have the chance of showing a project, you had to send images
to a journalist, who would perhaps be interested in a project,’ ronan describes, ‘if I was
very lucky, there would be a 2×2 centimeter image that was published in a journal with a
low circulation in france.’

as digital tools slowly grew in prominance and proficiency, ronan’s strong interest in the
communication of his projects grew more and more important. today, he sees his
instagram as a diary, with the ability to translate the essence of the studio’s work, and his
particular point of view. ‘I’m interested in understanding how captivating an image is, how
captivating a project is. sometimes before even presenting a project in drawings, I publish
it for several minutes to see the attractiveness of the image — but it’s not so — it’s more
about understanding if the way I present an idea that I hope to submit is sufficiently clear
and direct. I find that instagram is a very interesting tool for gauging that.’

      proposals for experimental solutions for urban life at VITRA. read more on designboom here

ronan went on to describe one of the most artistic and personal aspects of his work —
drawing. ronan’s poetic illustrations accompany the studio’s projects, where it’s become
a therapeutic, meditative, and deeply personal practice. ‘I have always drawn. from my

Nina Azzarello, “Ronan Bouroullec Reflects on Context, Communication and Collaboration for Friedman
Benda’s ‘Design in Dialogue’,” designboom, May 18, 2021.

deepest memories, I’ve always drawn,’ he says. ‘it’s very instinctive, intuitive. it’s what I
have at hand. these drawings are constructions that start off as a stroke, and then
accumulate bit by bit as I go along, a little like…a sculpture made of clay, with the addition
of little morsels that, in general and in my drawings, create additional lines, which bit by
bit create one shape, then another, and then at some point it’s finished — and I start
another. I draw in the evening, on the weekend, at night. never in the studio. it’s a very
personal practice. I like to do it beside my daughter, or possibly surrounded by my family,
but never in the studio. it’s something that’s indispensable for me and really does me a
world of good. the discipline of design is a very frustrating discipline. it’s a long journey
from the first idea to the object existing in reality — it’s years of work. there are endless
discussions with engineers, and with the assistants. the number of people working
together on a project, a chair for example, is surprising, it’s more than ten! here with the
drawing, I am alone. I’m not accountable to anyone. there’s no objective with the result.
there’s just the pure, very personal pleasure in producing something.’

          the samsung ‘serif’ series rethinks how the television should be treated in the home
                                     read more on designboom here
 with projects ranging from monumental to micro in scale over the course of many years
and in collaboration with a variety of voices, ronan describes the development of the
studio’s work to be ‘quite intuitive’ and in accordance with a geniune interest in its
subject. ‘I have one great fear, which is repetition,’ he says, ‘doing the same thing twice

Nina Azzarello, “Ronan Bouroullec Reflects on Context, Communication and Collaboration for Friedman
Benda’s ‘Design in Dialogue’,” designboom, May 18, 2021.

is an act that seems morally questionable to me, and that distresses me as well. I think
the interest of our discipline is that we aren’t specialists, but… if we adopt a certain
attitude in our research, in developing a certain empathy, a certain humility, to try and
understand subjects, I think that we have the ability, in any case, to think about or try to
find solutions to very diverse things.’

       ‘nuage’ vases form part of VITRA’s accessories collection. read more on designboom here

Nina Azzarello, “Ronan Bouroullec Reflects on Context, Communication and Collaboration for Friedman
Benda’s ‘Design in Dialogue’,” designboom, May 18, 2021.

re-imagined champs-élysées fountains with swarovski crystal chains | image © claire lavabre / studio
                            bouroullec. read more on designboom here

Nina Azzarello, “Ronan Bouroullec Reflects on Context, Communication and Collaboration for Friedman
Benda’s ‘Design in Dialogue’,” designboom, May 18, 2021.

‘rennes’ and ‘chainette’, a duo of curtain collections based on delicate embroidery techniques for kvadrat
                                      read more on designboom here

Nina Azzarello, “Ronan Bouroullec Reflects on Context, Communication and Collaboration for Friedman
Benda’s ‘Design in Dialogue’,” designboom, May 18, 2021.

‘OUI’, a series of four outdoor sitting installations set within the park surrounding kunsthal
                             aarhus in Denmark. read more on designboom here

                 the ‘chains’ collection with galerie kreo. read more on designboom here

Nina Azzarello, “Ronan Bouroullec Reflects on Context, Communication and Collaboration for Friedman
Benda’s ‘Design in Dialogue’,” designboom, May 18, 2021.

framed drawings and sources of inspiration can be seen on ronan bouroullec’s desk | image ©
                           designboom. read more on designboom here

Nina Azzarello, “Ronan Bouroullec Reflects on Context, Communication and Collaboration for Friedman
Benda’s ‘Design in Dialogue’,” designboom, May 18, 2021.

portrait of ronan bouroullec, courtesy of friedman benda

—

design in dialogue is a series of online interviews presented by new york-based
gallery friedman benda that highlights leading voices from the field — designers,
makers, critics, and curators — as they discuss their work and ideas. hosted alternately
by curator and historian glenn adamson and designer stephen burks, the conversations
are held on zoom for 1 hour and include a participatory Q&A.

watch the full video interview with ronan bouroullec at the top of the page and stay
tuned as designboom continues to share design in dialogue features. see all past
episodes — and RSVP for upcoming ones — here.

Nina Azzarello, “Ronan Bouroullec Reflects on Context, Communication and Collaboration for Friedman
Benda’s ‘Design in Dialogue’,” designboom, May 18, 2021.