The Métamorphique exhibition brings together an eclectic group of seven designers, craftspeople and artists. In a cross-disciplinary scenography, they present their appropriations of stone. Their work, which breaks free from the codes of traditional carving, is the result of research and experimentation in their respective fields, including cabinet-making, photography, weaving, inking and the hybridization of dissimilar materials.

Metamorphic refers to the profound transformation of a rock under the action of pressure, temperature or the addition of new substances.
This process modifies the structure, mineralogical composition and texture of pre-existing rocks, transforming them into metamorphic rocks. In this exhibition, each artist appropriates limestone and marble, two stones often associated with architecture, this time transforming them through their own process, be it artisanal, textural, chemical or structural. The artists are the protagonists of this hybridization.

Each unique piece, made by the exhibitors in their workshops as a prototype or finished object, responds to the material. Stone is at the heart of a creative process that brings together the different imaginations developed by these seven players around the same material.

Designers, artists and craftspeople

Alexandre Onimus

Artist

Alexandre Onimus is a versatile artist, exploring photography as a visual artist. After years as an art director for luxury brands, he now devotes himself to more personal projects involving photography. His artistic work is based on a variety of old and alternative techniques, which he applies to his images to alter them. He takes pleasure in printing and developing his work himself on a variety of media, including paper, glass, metal, ceramics and even stone, meticulously choosing each support to interact with the subject. This interaction gives his works a special uniqueness, underlining his affection for manual labor.

Alexandre hails from Corsica, where idyllic landscapes and sea spray have greatly influenced his aesthetic. His work, imbued with a subtle poetry, revolves around the body, nature and the sensibility that surrounds us.

Studio Quiproquo

Designers

Quiproquo is a studio formed by Marie Vernier-Lopin and Bastien Phung, designers, ceramist and cabinetmaker. Its approach is global, rooted in a territory, considering the environment and its stakeholders as the starting point for every project.

The duo is interested in know-how, in order to understand the possibilities offered by workshops as a creative medium.

He invites us to reconsider our needs and, a fortiori, the choice of what surrounds us. He proposes narrative objects that challenge us, as much by their form as by their use. 

Chloé Valorso

Designer and sculptor of jewelry and objets d'art

A graduate of Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art, with a Master's degree in metal & jewellery, Chloé Valorso creates sculptural jewelry. Trained in shamanic breathing, she infuses her creative process with a spiritual quest, an experiential practice. With her trio of materials: metal, stone and paper, she captures inner and outer energies to offer a return to animism. Her unique pieces preserve the trace of tools, the imprint of gesture, the alchemy of alloys, colors and patinas. Symbolic, organic and mythological, they invite us to reconnect with ourselves, with others and with nature. Chloé also creates exhibitions, working at different scales.

Grégory Lacoua

Designer

Grégory Lacoua is a designer. For the past 15 years, his studio has been active in the field of object and space design. Through the hybridization of know-how, the creation of bridges between tradition and new uses, between eras and technologies, he develops tailor-made projects that create identity and innovation.

In 2021, he was awarded the Grand Prix de la création de la ville de Paris, a prize that recognizes his career and his ability to imagine things that connect us emotionally to others and to the challenges of our modernity.

Lucile Brugière

Designer

Lucile Brugière is a designer who graduated in industrial creation from ENSCI les ateliers in 2018. She began her career at the Pauline Deltour studio, then at EDF's DesignLab. 

Today, she works as an independent designer on everyday objects, architectural elements and accessories. Each creative process begins with what she calls "office nonsense", in which she plays with the many materials, bits of objects, scraps of paper or pieces of hardware she has previously accumulated with no precise objective in mind. This leads her to create mirrors out of glass straw, walls out of stone or bags out of Ferrari canvas. 

Attracted by the work of the hand, she has enriched her practice by learning stained glass, bead weaving and, more recently, stone carving. Drawing and illustration are also part of her daily life, nourishing the way she looks at the things around her.

Miles Le Gras

Designer

Miles Le Gras graduated from ENSAAMA and the Design Academy in Eindhoven. He designs objects whose creation oscillates between unique pieces and mass production. The material is at the heart of his research, exploring its history as well as its physical, poetic and technical properties.

The process of production and fabrication of his objects aims to be as consistent as their practical purpose and final aesthetic. Thus his works bear witness to their own creative narrative through the use of their specific materials and the living experience they required.

Maxime Bellaunay

Cabinetmaker and sculptor

Maxime Bellaunay - cabinetmaker and sculptor - tells the story of the landscape through his work. Drawing inspiration from the landscape, he extracts materials, colors and textures, which he transcribes into his creations: pieces of furniture or sculptural works. In a spontaneous approach, the material influences the design of his objects. Letting himself be guided by the irregularities of rock, the organic patterns of wood or the subtleties of metal, he initiates an instinctive dialogue with his materials, sculpting raw, singular landscapes. He creates unique, made-to-measure pieces, shaped during his travels between France and Japan.

Press kit

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