Article written by Désirée de Lamarzelle, to be found in Volume 7 of Oniriq Magazine

For twenty-five years, through their work as designers, the Bouroullec brothers have been talking to us about shapes, gestures and the essential nature of contemplation. But it is as a solo artist that Ronan has multiplied his exhibitions and personal projects in the fields of drawing, ceramics and fashion with Issey Miyake. An encounter with an artist touched by the grace of absolute simplicity.

Ronan Bouroullec: It's the attempt to achieve grace. The kind of grace that can be found in an everyday object, such as an industrial chair, or in a fashion show, as was recently the case for Issey Miyake. I think you can achieve this grace just as easily with a baguette. I believe that this quest for accuracy guides all my artistic work.

Désirée de Lamarzelle: Accuracy and refinement at the frontier of design, craftsmanship and contemporary art?

R.B.: What is interesting about the discipline of a designer is that they are not specialists in anything. Humility is essential when approaching a subject, meeting people or even a machine, because you have to try to understand what you can do in a specific context, bringing precision and novelty without repeating what has been done before. Whatever the creation.

Désirée de Lamarzelle: Would you say that you challenge conventions while respecting craftsmanship?

R.B.: Yes, but it should be noted that designers remain at the service of a manufacturer, a company or even users. And nothing pleases me more than precise, even restrictive, specifications that stimulate my imagination. You have to know how to work with artisans for whom the technique and the project have to fit within a precise framework. For example, for the black sandstone altar in the chapel, an ironworker and a stonemason were called in. You have to see them at work to understand them and be inspired by them.

Désirée de Lamarzelle: Your creations have always been very personal.

R.B.: Everything I do is guided by passion and pleasure. I've always found myself to be quite free, because I've never worked for anyone else. I started young and was lucky enough to have a small success, which allowed me to take on projects one after the other, choosing exactly what I wanted to do or not to do. When I wasn't earning money, I lived on very little.

Désirée de Lamarzelle: You have a lot of projects on the go. How do they feed into each other?

R.B.: I'm 52 years old and I still have this desire to try everything, a bit like you might want to mix a palette of colours. In the different projects, there are sometimes common themes, but it all happens in a kind of unconscious shift. In other words, certain shapes that appear in objects and are used in a very artisanal way may reappear a few months later in a much more industrial process.

Désirée de Lamarzelle: In recent years, we have also discovered your drawings, which represent an essential part of your work.

R.B.: The special thing about drawing is that it requires nothing, it is extremely light. I have always drawn, it has always been a fairly intimate form of my creativity. But I was perhaps afraid of blurring my work as a designer by showing my other passions. Professionally, we are often forced to choose a box: architect, visual artist or designer, when in reality things are not so clearly defined. For me, everything is very connected. I exhibit my drawings at the Kreo gallery, but whatever the discipline, I am always searching for the same accuracy.

Désirée de Lamarzelle: You recently collaborated on Issey Miyake's ‘Homme Plissé’ collection.

R.B.: I discovered this wonderful designer at the age of 16 when I went to see an exhibition dedicated to him at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris: it was a revelation. The intelligence, beauty, lightness and construction of the garments, the inventiveness in the threads and techniques, all of this has inspired me throughout my career. In fact, he is one of the few designers whose talent is so recognizable, as his formal and functional textile sculptures borrow from all artistic forms without ever losing sight of their primary purpose: to dress women. Later, in 2000, at his request, I had the opportunity to design the A-Poc boutique in Paris with my brother. But before this collection, I had always refused to work in fashion.

Désirée de Lamarzelle: Why?

R.B.: Because, in my eyes, fashion was a kind of gaping hole where everything was absorbed and then quickly spat out, only to be immediately forgotten. I had already been offered collaborations, but I couldn't see how to translate my designs, which are part of a fairly long creative process, onto garments that would almost immediately go out of fashion. But at Issey Miyake, I was able to count on the intelligence and methodology of the artistic team to participate in the ‘Homme Plissé’ collection.

Désirée de Lamarzelle: Your Instagram account gives a nice overview of your projects. Are social networks essential for notoriety?

R.B.: There are some fabulous designers who don't use Instagram. As for me, I like posting photos because sharing my work is part of the project. I've always photographed my creations because photography is an integral part of my creative process in terms of sharing and explaining what I do.

Désirée de Lamarzelle: Which artist inspires you in particular?

R.B.: Donald Judd is an American minimalist artist whose work fascinates me, as does the environment in which he works and the way he has always communicated: he talks extremely well about the materials he uses, the reasons why he assembles them in a certain way, etc. He is passionate about architecture, but also about objects, and has restored old buildings, such as a former military base in Texas (Marfa), to bring together and showcase his work, but also that of others.

Désirée de Lamarzelle: Looking at your very organic forms, which are heavily inspired by nature, I spontaneously thought of the architect Gaudi.

R.B.: That's funny, he's also one of the artists who influenced me in my youth. Donald Judd and Gaudi are radically different, however: the former is the poet of the right angle, while the latter is the master of organic poetry. But both manage to create a unique world, whatever the subject. And in their work, there is a clarity, a guiding thread that is a true form of writing.

Désirée de Lamarzelle: If you were an object, what would you be?

R.B.: I hesitate between a vase and a chair. Perhaps a vase placed on a chair... Perhaps a contemporary chair with an antique vase.

Désirée de Lamarzelle: You don't like the word ‘design’...

R.B.: When it's used as an adjective. A “design” chair, a ‘design’ universe... Design is not a style but a profession that involves invention, accuracy and service. This discipline is not necessarily understood, even though it is very commonplace: every object on this Earth that did not grow itself or did not already exist was designed, shaped and thought out. I feel that I am continuing in the tradition of these subjects: I like to work with new materials, but also to use ancient, even millennia-old techniques, and to succeed, using exactly the same technical alphabet as in the past, in creating something that makes a difference. A more radical, new, but accurate response.

Translated by Bethszabee Garner