FROM COMPAGNONS DU DEVOIR TO NEW-YORK GALLERIES
France - Paris
United States - New York
Pierre-Yves Guenec, a new talent to watch, with a love of craftsmanship and a creative spirit that combines design practice and artistic direction.
Pierre-Yves Guenec was born in 1990 in Nantes, France, where he grew up in a world of art, literature and spirituality. After a spell at the Atelier de Sèvres and the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts, he realized that theoretical training was not enough for him. Attracted by the world of materials, he turned to the decorative arts. It was a turnaround that paid off: in 2015, he was made a Compagnon du devoir, and the following year, he became national secretary of the Compagnons serruriers, metalliers et fondeurs for three years.
Then it's off to Ateliers Saint-Jacques, a venerable institution well known to those familiar with the world of heritage restoration and contemporary architecture, but also to the art scene thanks to the Fonderie de Coubertin, for its bronze and repoussé metal workshops. Here, he officiates for the biggest names in design and architecture, collaborating with international galleries and developing the institution in the United States.
With a foot on both sides of the Atlantic, Pierre-Yves Guenec is launching his own design studio in Paris and New York in 2022. His proposition? To approach our worlds through a spiritual lens and "transfigure materials to reveal their beauty".
Through his practice of design, but also scenography, artistic creation and interior architecture, this creative mind is committed to thinking about "uses and archetypes; the immanence of objects, the impact of spaces and the power of symbols", in order to invent "the language of a future conducive to the fulfillment of being".
Always strongly attached to his first love, craftsmanship, he entrusts his creations to the finest French and European artisans, whose skills stimulate his imagination. As a result, all the design studio's collections are co-signed by the artisans who worked on them.
Among the little marvels in his repertoire is Rocky, which he describes as follows: "It's the first table ever made by the studio. It came after months and months of research, years of work. When it was published, I lost a very close friend, Rocky Lafleur, who had helped me enormously, so this first piece is dedicated to him. Carved from a single block of marble, precious, whole, all curves and yet very geometric, it reminded me of Rocky."
Don't miss Tower of Babel, "a modular lamp concept based on the Old Testament myth which, in addition to being dear to the Compagnons of which I am a member, is also an ode to the diversity of cultures", explains the designer, who underlines: "There's a very clear link in the Old Testament between the word and light. So I thought it would be interesting to transpose this concept into a lamp, with each module recalling a language, and therefore a culture. And the more languages there are, the more light there is. A talent to watch.