manmade

From 22 May to 26 July 2025

Manmade is a simple juxtaposition of two pieces of furniture. One is a chair made for Vitra, the fruit of four years’ work. The other is a rustic stool that I made with the help of a carpenter in Burgundy. On the one hand, European industry, characterised by rigorous development and a very high level of engineering, which ultimately results in a high-performance object made from recycled and recyclable materials. On the other hand, a stool made from wooden sticks harvested in a forest, and a piece of Douglas fir from another forest less than 5 kilometres away. It’s rustic, and therefore durable, and the question of recycling it doesn’t really arise: it’s a very personal object, which will be passed down through the family. But at the heart of it all are the men and women who produce it. Sometimes our society seems alienated by its own consumption and complex systems, and shoots production entities in the face as if they were inherently compromised. Yet we forget that behind production there are people who work with kindness and professionalism. And that at the heart of all production, there is always this fundamental human activity: producing for someone who needs it. There was a time when almost every object gave rise to some form of discussion, enabling mutual empathy between the maker and the person who was going to buy it. Here, then, are two objects born of the same desire, made with the same benevolence, but in the same way.

– Erwan Bouroullec