These lamps, commissioned by the Parisian gallery Artisan Social Designer, are at first material before they are form or function. "In this experimental project, we tried to make our own medium" explain the young designers. But what precisely is this unfamiliar raw material? Is it ceramic, a kind of foam, or even pre-tinted plaster? Difficult to say: these objects — at once furry and luminous — put one's visual, tactile, or haptic bearings to the test. As Ezio Manzini, undisputed specialist on design suggests, "it is possible to say what new generation objects appear to be made from but not what they are actually made from." Fortunately, the title of these objects demystifies their composition. Pigment refers here to the object, its substance and to its luminosity.
"The idea with these lamps was to focus above all on colour. We chose to work with simple forms in order to accentuate the impact of colour tonality. As soon as you elaborate the design, the form becomes too prominent and the colour incidental."
"This way of working arises from the material itself, rather than being imposed onto it: an almost floral or efflorescent conception where beauty arises through a symbiosis of form and content, that ends divisions." In this quote, French philosopher François Dagognet celebrates the particular "approach, choice of ingredients, neo-textures, arrangements or mixtures" within the birth of this kind of project. At Studio Monsieur, this material celebration is reminiscent of the Hindi Holi festival.
Better results were achieved when employing techniques used for making pastel, but an ingredient was still missing in order to make the material malleable. Thanks to the salutary powers of transdisciplinarity, the solution was finally found in an entirely different domain: textiles. It is no coincidence that these designers share their studio space with a graphic designer, a set designer and a costumer designer. The final makeup of this lamp would be fabric and pigment. The designers specify their method: "Two layers of cotton for three layers of pigment".
Those who have visited the crypt of the convent of Sainte Marie de La Tourette will be familiar with Le Corbusier's famous "light canons". For those unfamiliar with this spectacular space, Studio Monsieur have delivered an admirable domestic alternative
Hung in group, Manon Leblanc and Romains Diroux' Pigment lamps send complex and colourful messages and simultaneous contrasting effects that would even impress Michel-Eugène Chevreul. But the alchemy is not yet finished: one by one, these cones will take it upon themselves to give life and warmth to the dullness of our energy-efficient light bulbs. Those who have visited the crypt of the convent of Sainte Marie de La Tourette will be familiar with Le Corbusier's famous "light canons" and the mesmerising encounter between light and colour in this work. For those unfamiliar with this spectacular space, Studio Monsieur have delivered an admirable domestic alternative. Tony Côme