Galerie Philia is Presenting a Furniture Collection Designed by Children
The “Design Brut” project brings the sketches of six and seven-year-olds to life.
In a bid to engage more children around the world with design, Galerie Philia has launched a new initiative named “Design Brut”, which sees school kids paired up with design studios to create gallery-worthy pieces.
The project’s first iteration took place at a school in France, in a commune named Breil-sur-Roya. The children at the local school were visited by Antoine Behaghel and Alexis Foiny from Studio BehaghelFoiny, who subsequently conducted workshops introducing the six and seven-year-olds to design. Along with their teacher, the kids began by creating shapes on paper, forming ideas through the use of pens, pencils, and collages. From this, the designer pair then developed the drawings into physical designs – making use of local olive wood, and enlisting the skills of a local cabinetmaker to bring each piece to life. An exhibition was then presented for the children to show their pieces to the local community, with it set to travel to Paris from November 10 to December 8.
Examples Of The Children’s Sketches
Examples Of The Children’s Sketches
Examples Of The Children’s Sketches
The “Design Brut” project takes inspiration from a similar initiative by French artist Jean Dubuffet, who referred to the notion of “Art Brut”. Translated to “raw art”, this concept would see the creation of works from outside of the traditional fine art circles, involving those not typically thought of as being part of the so-called art world. “According to Dubuffet, these groups produced works that were more direct, emotional, truthful and untrammelled by cultural conventions and norms, compared to those of trained artists, influenced and molded by technical and academic knowledge,” Galerie Philia says.
Inspired by this, Galerie Philia founder Ygaël Attali began Design Brut and inaugurated the initiative with this first set of workshops. The process of the project was documented in a film, which will be unveiled at the exhibition in Paris. Attali explains:
“The documentary questions the actual definition of furniture design. The meaning emerges gradually through the drawings of the children and their physical incarnations. If raw art is defined by the unadulterated approach and absence of limits in the creative field, it seems here that functionality – the necessary notion of proportion and balance – is maintained, making it a key component of sculptural design.”
After the exhibition has finished, each of the five pieces will be available to purchase from the gallery’s website, with the funds being reinvested into the initiative. The second iteration of Design Brut is set to take place in the Dominican Republic in 2023.
Take a look at the pieces above, and for more design – check out the interiors of the brand-new Orient Express train, ahead of its relaunch in 2025.
Design Brut | Philia & Kids
4 Rue Malher
Paris, 75004
