Trained in workshops at Ensci, the duo has just won the Grand Jury Prize for the Hyères Design Parade 2024. The two designers poetically revise the tools of design by building sand capital.
Two merchants of sand… That’s how we can describe Sacha Parent and Valentin Tiraboschi, who have just been crowned the Grand Jury Prize at the 2024 Hyères Design Parade under the chairmanship of Fabien Capello. But beware! They are not there to put us to sleep. Rather, they awaken the creative community by designing new gestures and new techniques. The pair trained at L’Ensci – Les workshops (National School of Industrial Creation). Both were attracted by the opening the school offers to the professional world. “I went through École Duperré quickly,” explains Sasha, who graduated at the age of 28 and is now self-employed. Joining Ensci, I knew I could tailor my course to my desires. So I traveled to India to follow courses in glass and ceramics. I then began an internship with the Bouroulec brothers and eventually became Ronan’s assistant. I also had the opportunity to join the Luma Arles design research center in the Camargue region.”
The same desire to derail the formatted curriculum during Valentine’s Day. “At Ensci, we spend more time outside than in school. I chose to do my Tour de France with my companions to train in staffing techniques and joined Atelier Louis Del Boca, a reference in staffing, plastering, paintings and decorations,” details the 24-year-old young woman who it is still new. completing his studies. Even if they decided not to stay locked within the walls of Ensci and went their separate ways, they still managed to cross paths and develop a common project that saw them through to the end. “We started collaborating during Sasha’s degree,” Valentin recalls. He was interested in my personnel practice. We also bonded over our shared interest in decorating and our desire to focus on self-production. The idea of Decor by Sand was born from these orientations, but also from the reflection of “how to find a substitute for the hand, how to replace the designer’s intention with a broader protocol that allows nature to work in its place”. This is how we envisioned the sandblasting process that renews modern sculpture. »
Luc Bertrand
Secret technique
Together, they design grids whose holes can be more or less closed depending on the results they want to obtain, and through which the sand can pass, falling onto the curved plaster supports, thus creating different reliefs. These are then shaped. “Sand cannot be molded like other materials because it is not stable,” explains Sacha. So we invented a secret technique that allowed us to capture these ornaments to create molds and thus produce pieces.” Semi-mattresses and mirror frames prove that their poetic approach is indeed “doable”.
“It’s a way to refresh the designer’s tools, break away from the constraints of 3D and drawing, and question the way we create, especially with artificial intelligence. We provide answers through a gesture related to nature, gravity, the saving material, sand. And sand is not a trivial choice. “It speaks about social problems. The semantics of sand is associated with desertification, the state of the planet, and also leads to apocalyptic visions such as Sand dune . It is also widely used in the concrete industry, which destroys the soil. This grammar, these facts, raise questions that we want to address in a perhaps less fatal way. As for us, we only use very small amounts of sand and primarily reuse it to create fine decorative items. So we reflect the precious side of the sand,” continues the duo, delighted to be able to show their progress to the general public for the first time at Villa Noailles in Jerez from 28 to 30 June.
Luc Bertrand
The award is also a stepping stone to further research, as it will allow Valentin and Sacha to work at Cirva (International Center for Research on Glass and Plastic Arts) and Manufacture de Sèvres on glass and ceramics, two topics that interest them and which have connections with sand. “I think design requires constantly questioning all the questions and tools of design and production,” Sacha continues. For it is they, in both industry and craft, who allow forms to evolve. I like to do research before creating.” And Valentine returns. “It is this approach that unites and unites us. We are complementary because we both have a theoretical and historical anchor. Our dialogues are rich, which gives our couple great strength.” Sacha Parent and Valentine Tiraboschi aren’t done getting their grain of sand into the well-oiled teeth of design.
Source: Le Figaro
