With "the public bench" as the theme, the 5th Banc d’essai showcases six design and business pairings made up of talented graduates from Ésad Saint-Étienne and regional businesses. Echoing the theme Ressource(s), présager demain, the designers and companies have come up with solutions for design and production, circularity, recyclability, modularity of use, economy of means and resources... A place to sit, to contemplate, with a rudimentary or elegant silhouette, in wood or metal, aesthetic and functional, the public bench is an essential piece of furniture for living together. These 6 benches tell stories of encounters, exchanges and know-how. They are an invitation to daydream, to chat and offer passers-by a moment of rest and relaxation.
Curator Éric Jourdan
Coordinator Nathalie Arnould
In partnership with Saint-Étienne Métropole
For this year’s Biennial, 12 communes in Saint-Étienne Métropole will receive a bench as a legacy of the Biennial. The towns of Aboën, Chateauneuf, la Fouillouse, la Grand’Croix, l’Horme and Saint-Paul-en-Cornillon will host a bench during the Biennial. At the end of the Biennial, the 6 benches on display at Place Waldeck Rousseau will be installed in the towns of Cellieu, Fontanes, La-Tour-en-Jarez, Rive-de-Gier, Saint-Christo-en Jarez and Valfleury.
VARA
Pine, length 200 cm
Biennial Town: Valfleury - length 500 cm
Post-Biennial Town: La Grand’Croix
Drawing on Rondino’s production standards - sections and tops - designer Mathilde Garcia has limited the amount of material used to prevent waste. Her VARA bench has been designed for optimised manufacturing, making the best use of available resources while making the most of the natural qualities of PEFC-certified wood. VARA’s monolithic, uncluttered design ensures it has a strong presence in public spaces.
The designer: Mathilde Garcia
After graduating from Esad Saint-Étienne in 2022, Mathilde Garcia
founded VERY GOOD DESIGN, a self-publishing business that reflects her
commitment to fair and equitable production. This project for Banc
d’essai marks her first collaboration on an industrial scale.
The company: Gaillard Rondino
Designer and manufacturer of wooden outdoor equipment
since 1877 in Savigneux in the Loire, Rondino guarantees highly durable
products, manufactured in Lozère, Burgundy and the Vosges...
Otto
Metal curved tube, seats four, length 220 cm, brown
Biennial Town: Saint-Paul-en-Cornillon - Double bed, length 170 cm - Olive
Post-Biennial Town: Cellieu
Designer Elen Gavillet has imagined her bench as a living-room bench, changing the image of street furniture. Otto’s design is a showcase for Cintrafil’s expertise in bending steel tubes. The challenges of conserving resources have also guided the manufacturing process, limiting the number of tools and the number of cuts and welds, which are costly and energy-consuming processes.
The designer: Elen Gavillet
A Franco-Swiss designer who graduated from Ésad Saint-Étienne in
2015, Elen Gavillet founded her studio in 2017, after starting out with
designer Patrick Rampelotto and the EOOS Design agency in Vienna, where
she designed scenography and furniture. Her practice focuses on
preserving traditional craftsmanship, while exploring new fields of
application and formal horizons.
The company: Cintrafil - Edmond &fils
An expert in shaping
wire, sheet metal, tubes and profiles, Cintrafil specialises in mainly
metal outdoor furniture for exceptional heritage sites such as the
Jardin du Luxemburg and the Château de Versailles. The company
manufactures all its components at its production site in Tence,
Haute-Loire.
Modeste
Metal version, length 225 cm, pastel blue.
Biennial Town: Chateauneuf - Wooden (Robinia) and metal version, length 229 cm
Post-Biennial Town: Fontanes
A public bench is an object that organises urban space differently, depending on its location. It was with this idea in mind that designer Nathanaël Gourdin, in collaboration with the company Tôlerie Forézienne, defined the silhouette of his Modeste bench. Available in "all metal" or with a seat in Robinia, Modeste is a simple, unpretentious bench that’s easy to find a place for.
The designer: Nathanaël Gourdin
After graduating from the École des Beaux-Arts de Saint-Étienne
in 1997, Nathanaël Gourdin worked for the Intégral Ruedi Baur &
Associés agency in Paris, before moving to Germany in 1999. Since then
he has devoted himself to signage design with Studio Gourdin.
The company: Tôlerie Forézienne
Located in Bonson in the Loire region, Tôlerie Forézienne has been a French player in metal processing for over one hundred years. Under the TF Urban brand, it works with over sixty designers to produce innovative, top-of-the-range street furniture.
Uzore
Powder-coated steel - PLUG® fixing system - Length 200 cm.
Biennial Town: La Fouillouse
Post-Biennial Town: La-Tour-en-Jarez
The Uzore bench exploits the possibilities offered by the PLUG®fixing system ,patented by Metalink Urban. With its wide, micro-perforated seat, it reveals a minimal, essential structure, inspired by the hull of a boat or the wooden and cotton wings of early aircraft.
The designer: Nicolas Girard
Born in 1991, Nicolas Girard is a designer and scenographer who lives and works in Paris. He graduated from Esad Saint-Étienne in 2015, and also studied at the Politecnico in Milan. He focuses on furniture design, exhibition and museum scenography. In 2019, he will be joining Studio Adrien Gardère and, at the same time, developing collaborations with Hermès, La Poste and Ligne Roset.
The company : Metalink Urban - Aimé Ledin
Located in Saint-Étienne, Metalink Urban develops furniture for modular and adaptable spaces, based on its flagship product PLUG®, a fixing block that is resistant to urban and weather conditions. This mechanical anchoring system allows furniture to be installed and removed in just a few minutes!
Empreintes
Black stained wood and polished stainless steel - One-piece version, lengths 277 cm and 400 cm
Biennial Town: Aboën - Two-piece version, lengths 250 cm and 130 cm
Post-Biennial Town: Saint-Christo-en-Jarez
Like two pieces of wood that have ’fallen from the sky’, escaped from chance or time, the Empreintes bench, with its raw forms, is set in the urban space, shattering the established order. The thinking behind Numéro 111 is rooted in this duality between the organic and the constructed. Its position in space, its lines, its size and its inclinations do not dictate any posture: they suggest and leave room for free appropriation.
The designers: Numéro 111
Childhood friends, the trio from Saint-Étienne - Sophie Françon, Jennifer Julien and Grégory Peyrache - formed in 2010, after studying in Saint-Étienne at the École supérieure d’art et de design and the École nationale supérieure d’architecture.
The team works on objects, furniture, interior architecture and scenography.
The company : Aubrilam
Founded in 1978 and based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Puy-de-Dôme region, Aubrilam specialises in the design of lighting solutions and wooden street furniture, combining innovation, respect for the environment and quality.
Gier
Galvanised steel and heat-treated ash, Ø4.4m
Biennial Town: L’Horme - Double Bench version, 204 cm x 104 cm x 70.1 cm
Post-Biennial Town: Rive-de-Gier
Using local resources, renewable materials and a manufacturing process with a low carbon footprint, the design of the Gier bench also takes into account the dismantling phase, so that all components can be recycled at the end of their life. Thanks to Guyon’s expertise, Gier’s sleek design and modularity mean it can be used in a multitude of seating configurations.
The designers : CLUZEL & PLUCHON
This Lille-based design studio was founded in 2015 by Sébastien Cluzel and Morgane Pluchon, who graduated from the École des beaux-arts de Saint-Étienne in 2011 and the École cantonale d’art de Lausanne. The duo advocate an aesthetic of economy by questioning use as well as modes of production.
The company: Guyon
Guyon has been based in Thiers, in the Puy-de-Dôme region, since 1991. Part of the Ingenitis group, Guyon is a furniture manufacturer committed to eco-responsibility and product recycling. It produces street furniture in all styles and materials.
In partnership with the design magazine Intramuros
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