Ronan Bouroullec's ‘Resonance’ is an explorative solo exhibition in Paris

French designer Ronan Bouroullec’s recent contribution of over 30 art pieces to the Centre Pompidou — Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris has been followed by his solo exhibition titled Resonance. Curated by Marie Ange Brayer and Olivier Zeitoun from the museum’s Design and Industrial Prospective department, the showcase includes a diverse array of designer pieces, ceramics, textiles, bas-reliefs, and drawings crafted between 2020 and 2024, highlighting Bouroullec's multifaceted approach and his dedicated exploration of form and function.

The creative process of Ronan Bouroullec, founder of Paris-based Studio Bouroullec, seamlessly blends industrial and artisanal expertise, fostering a rich interplay amongst different mediums, materials, colours, shapes, and planes. His designs reflect a meticulous selection of materials, assembly techniques, and manufacturing processes that give shape to bold explorative forms. Bouroullec finds inspiration in a myriad of sources for his projects, ideas spanning from American minimalism to ancient and contemporary cultures, with a recurring influence from nature and the plant kingdom.

Bouroullec's Resonance features a series of vases titled Sosei, a word that translates to ‘assemblage’ in Japanese. The custom vase collection which was designed in collaboration with the Japan based Tajimi Custom Tiles, pays homage to Japanese ceramics and endangered artisanal techniques with the use of geometric compositions combining rectangular tiles with cylindrical bodies.

Another distinguished work at the exhibition is the Adagio modular wall installation, created for the Italian ceramic tile company Mutina. Adaptable to various scales and contexts, an intricate lattice—reminiscent of textile patterns—is composed of bi-coloured intersecting tiles. The title of the work, as per the exhibition’s press statement, is inspired by musical time, emphasising the slow and deliberate application of each piece. In the words of Bouroullec, “Adagio is the photograph of a gesture, it is the slowness that accompanies it and the musicality of time.”

Bouroullec's Camino and Camini collection for Mutina are cylindrical vases in anodised aluminium, combined with ceramic elements outlining the supporting grid-like structure holding the vases. According to Bouroullec, Camino evokes a sense of familiarity, resembling a welcoming home open to nurturing life's growth. Elsewhere from the Mutina collection, Candeliere introduces a modular lighting support system with adaptable configurations. The cylinders are joined by ceramic parallelepipeds serving as connecting elements.

Resonance also peeks into drawing, being central to Bouroullec's creative journey. Artworks revealing iterative design patterns—inked with a Japanese brush pen on glossy paper—reflect the artist’s affinity for dynamic lines and textures. A riveting kaleidoscope of design and discovery, the exhibition peaks into Bouroullec's explorative and holistic creations of ceramics, textiles, and drawings, which demonstrate an attached sensitivity to how objects participate in space.

Previously in a spirited conversation with STIR, Ronan Bouroullec mentioned design to be “a very frustrating discipline because it is between the first idea and the fact that the object exists in a shop or a kitchen in front of you.” He shared, “The difficulty about being a designer is that one is always balancing between phases of enthusiasm and dejection because there is always someone who does not agree.” The dialogue was part of a video series titled UNSCRIPTED.

‘Resonance’ is on view at the Centre Pompidou in Paris till September 23, 2024.