Crasset Matali

This first monograph dedicated to Matali Crasset traces the twenty last years of the career of one of the most renowned designers international. From object to architecture, the work of Matali Crasset questions, in the manner of a sociologist, the role of design in daily life and redefines modes of use, lifestyles and human interactions. A graduate of Ateliers-ENSCI in 1991, Matali Crasset retains from her time at the Italian designer Denis Santachiara has an interest in new technologies. Upon her return to Paris, she developed this experience of electronic design when she collaborated for five years with Philippe Starck, becoming Head of Tim Thom, the integrated design structure of the Thomson company Multimedia, and in 1996 when the VIA gave him carte blanche for his project home furniture computer W at Hôm. Her home-workshop, which she sets up in 1998 in Belleville in the middle of small gardens in a former printing works, is conducive to reflection and research. She creates objects there often transformable offering original solutions acclaimed by critics for their functional, poetic, imaginary and recreational character. Among the countless achievements, we can cite: the hospitality column When Jim Go up to Paris or the sofa-playground Building permit for Domeau & Pérès ; metal structures and removable trays Table Trays & Shelves for Aiki; the Ierace pendant light for Artemide; the Evolute suspension for Danese; Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend Psyche and Lantern for Meta/Mallett; the “furnished” space Open Room No. 1 for Established & Sons; the Guest Room for Campeggi; the collection of pastry utensils Essential pastry for Alessi. Matali Crasset's projects follow one another and branch out as she meetings. She works with actors as distinct as the hotelier who wants to develop a new concept (Hi hotels in Paris and Nice or Dar Hi in Nefta in Tunisia), the museum that wants to transform itself (SM's in s'Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands), or the Directorate of Cultural Affairs from Burgundy who wants to place contemporary chandeliers in the cathedral Saint-Bénigne in Dijon. Matali Crasset finds in the exhibitions a space of reflection and experimentation different from industrial design and multiplies the opportunities to collaborate with artists, including Peter Halley with “Nature “dead to live” at the Thaddaeus Ropac gallery where she exhibits regularly. She has created numerous scenographies for private companies, Hermès, Première Vision, or for institutions, the Mobilier national, the Biennale de Saint-Étienne, the Montrouge Salon.