Called Momentané, the show looks back at the Bouroullec brothers' career so far and features furniture, lighting, spatial designs, drawings, videos and photographs.

The largest room is dominated by a 12-metre-high textile installation and a series of partitions designed by the brothers.

Objects such as the brothers' Losanges rugs for Nanimarquina and Assemblages furniture for Galerie Kreo are displayed on podiums covered with their Pico tiles for Mutina.

In one of the side aisles is a collection of their office furniture, including the Copenhagen furniture designed for the Danish city's university and produced by Hay, and the Ready Made Curtain system for Kvadrat.

Six alcoves contain objects designed for domestic spaces, such as the Alcove sofa for Vitra and the Cloud modular shelving system for Cappellini, as well as drawings and photographs exploring the brothers' creative process.

The Momentané exhibition continues at Les Arts Décoratifs, 107 Rue de Rivoli, Paris, until 1 September 2013.

Recent work by the Bouroullecs includes a courtyard installation of rotating cork platforms in Milan last month and an aluminium chair and sideboard for Magis – see all design by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec.

Here's more information from Les Arts Décoratifs:

From 25 April to 1 September 2013, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec are revisiting fifteen years of creation in the Arts Décoratifs nave. Conceived as a gigantic installation combining the spectacular and the intimate, the 1,000 square-metre exhibition covers their entire career, highlighting every facet of their production: their objects and spatial designs, their limited editions and industrially produced pieces, their furniture for public spaces and the home, and their drawings, videos and photographs.

The Bouroullec brothers are focussing on three approaches to their work in the nave and its two side-aisles: in the nave in an installation in a vast architectural space; on the Tuileries side, with their reflection on the office and workspace, and on the Rivoli side with a more intimist approach highlighting their creative process.

Beneath a 12 metre-high textile vault in the nave, Erwan and Ronan Bouroullec have created an abstract landscape structured by their partition designs (Algues, North Tiles, Twigs, Clouds), which divide the space and guide visitors through the exhibition. On entering this monumental, surprising universe one is immediately immersed in its singular atmosphere. Like an openwork screen, the polystyrene Nuages opens the exhibition, then one is led by the partitions through a series of their creations displayed on podiums covered with the Pico tiles produced by Mutina, including the Losanges rugs for Nanimarquina and the Assemblages furniture for Galerie Kreo. These confrontations play on changes in scale and highlight their delicate, sensual aspects. Through the Algues screen one has a view of the Textile Field, originally created in 2011 for the Raphael Cartoons room in the Victoria & Albert museum.

In the Tuileries aisle, the Bouroullec brothers are focussing on their reflection on the workspace, which began with the Joyn desks for Vitra, a collaboration they are pursuing with their most recent creations, Workbay and Corktable. The Copenhagen furniture, produced by Hay, was specially designed and created for the new university of Copenhagen. Their designs for the office environment are pragmatic responses to the most recent evolutions in working practices: alone or with others and therefore requiring either intimate spaces conducive to concentration or, on the contrary, collective work areas. Visitors will be able to test the ergonomics and use of these pieces by trying out the furniture themselves. Separate workspaces can also be created with the Ready Made Curtain, a new system of very light, ready-to-install curtains developed for Kvadrat. 300 abstract drawings, either free expressions or linked to a specific design project, are being shown on the walls of this gallery.

The six alcoves in the Rivoli aisle focus on objects designed for more domestic and intimate spaces. These pieces, chosen for the dialogue they create with one another, are contextualised by models and a constellation of images. Preparatory drawings and photographs of factory production and details show the processes of creation and production.

In only fifteen years of prolific creativity, the Bouroullec brothers have produced an impressive body of work – furniture, objects, partitions, etc. – in an always simple and functional style and providing new solutions to contemporary lifestyles. They are particularly interested in problems of space and modularity. They often work on a quasi-architectural scale: one of their first pieces, the Lit Clos bed, created in 2000 for the Milan Furniture Fair, was designed for people living in a single room, and the Alcove Sofa (Vitra, 2007) can be transformed into a sofa or partition. The Cloud modular system (Cappellini) combines shelfs and partitions, the Algues (Vitra) and Twigs (Vitra) modular systems are assembled to create openwork screens, and the North Tiles (Kvadrat) and Clouds (Kvadrat) partitions are designed for acoustic comfort.

Fifteen years of creation

Ronan Bouroullec studied at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs and began his career working alone, immediately showing his originality in the Torique collection of combinatory vases and ceramics he produced at Vallauris in 1997. In 1999, Ronan was joined by his brother Erwan, who trained at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Arts Paris- Cergy. Their continual creative dialogue and prolific output was concretised by their collaborations with major design publishers. The first of these, Giulio Cappellini, enabled them to rapidly assimilate industrial production methods in creations such as the Hole collection in 1999 and the Spring Chair in 2000. They then began their close creative relationship with Rolf Fehlbaum, chairman of Vitra, which produced many of their projects, including the Joyn modular desks (2002), the Algues modular partition system (2004) and more classical types of objects such as the Slow Chair (2007) and Vegetal Chair (2009).

The brothers also produced designs for other design manufacturers in Italy such as Magis (the Striped and Steelwood furniture) and Kartell (the Papyrus chair) and in England such as Established & Sons (the Quilt sofa and Lighthouse lamp). In France, they developed several pieces for Ligne Roset, a manufacturer specialised in seating, including the Outdoor chair, the origami-inspired Facett sofa and armchair collection and the Ploum sofa, whose exceptional comfort is the result of intensive research.

Their collaboration with Galerie Kreo from 2000 onwards enabled them to develop more experimental designs and explore themes dear to them, particularly the frontier between furniture and architecture, in pieces such as Cabane and Brick. Kreo provided them with a free environment in which they could propose projects unaffected by habitual industrial constraints: the Bells lamps, the Rizière table and the Lianes lights.

In parallel, the Bouroullec brothers have also designed exhibitions and interiors, including Issey Miyake's first A-POC shop in Paris in 2000, the Maison Flottante for the Centre National de l'Estampe et de l'Art imprimé at Chatou, and more recently the Camper shops. The design of the showrooms of the textile brand Kvadrat in Stockholm was an opportunity for them to develop the Tiles and Clouds modular textiles partitions. From 2010 to 2013 they began new collaborations and widened their fields of activity. They designed a complete bathroom range for Axor (Hansgrohe group), the Piani and Aim lamps for Flos, the Losanges rug for Nanimarquina, the Ovale table service for Alessi, the Pico ceramic tiles collection for Mutina and university furniture for Hay. Their creations are now in numerous museums, including the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and the Musée National d’Art Moderne–Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Design Museum in London and the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam.

Publication

To coincide with this exhibition, DRAWING, a book of 800 drawings dating from 2004 to 2012, is being published by JRP Ringier. Drawing is their main day-to-day activity and the pencil the principal tool in their creative process and means of concretising their emotions, both as part of specific research in a project's development or as a means of free personal expression.

The Arts Décoratifs Museums
107 rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris
Open Tuesday to Sunday 11am to 6pm (late opening Thursday until 9pm: Temporary exhibitions and jewellery gallery only)

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Called Quiet Motion, the project for BMW's electric car division comprises four carousel-like structures with strips of fabric hanging from the edges, linked by wide circular cork platforms that are also revolving.

Visitors can climb inside the curtains of textiles and relax as the world slowly passes round them: "You are invited to take part in it and be part of the movement," explains Erwan Bouroullec.

The Bouroullec brothers believe that as electric engines make cars quieter, the driving experience and the interior design of vehicles should become simplified and more relaxing.

"We tried to interpret what it means to have an electric cars," he continues. "What we propose with this installation is to say that motion, movement, energy in general should probably be quieter, softer and something which is less about speed and aggression."

They combined materials common to car design - bodywork paint and leather - with materials more usually associated with furniture and interiors, like cork and fabrics.

"We are more and more surrounded by materials that look fake," says Bouroullec. "In the furniture industry you use less materials and fewer components. I think car interiors have to come back to materials that are more clear, more simple, and more understood by the people and customers."

The installation will be on show at Facoltà Teologica dell’Italia Settentrionale, Via dei Cavalieri del Santo Sepolcro 3, 20121 Milan from tomorrow.

The Bouroullecs will also present an aluminium sideboard for Italian brand Magis and an update to their Steelwood chair at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in the city this week. See all our stories about design by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec.

BMW i is the sustainable sub-brand of BMW - check out their folding electric scooter and two electric concept cars or see all our stories about BMW car design.

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Bouroullec for BMW i appeared first on Dezeen.

The Theca sideboard by the Bouroullecs for Magis combines an aluminium body and sliding doors with wooden shelves that bolt to the punched aluminium sides.

The aluminium comes in a black or natural finish and the shelves come in cherry or ash. The sideboard is available in four sizes.

Steelwood Galva updates the brothers' famous Steelwood chair – launched in Milan in 2007 – and matching bar stool (not pictured) with a galvanised steel finish and beech-wood option.

Both products will be shown at the Magis showroom at Corso Garibaldi 77, Milan, between 9 and 14 April.

The Bouroullecs recently launched a DIY curtain kit based around a hanging cord that winds up like a guitar string and last year they designed a set of furniture for Copenhagen University - see all design by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec.

Other products launching in Milan this year include a wooden chair with legs like ice skates and modular furniture made from Meccano-like perforated steel plates – see all products and news from Milan 2013.

Here's some more information from the designers:

Theca constitutes a logical continuation of our work with Magis and the manufacturing process of metal stamping - a language we had already explored with the Steelwood project. We find fascination in turning a thin sheet of metal into a rigid structural piece with a single considerable punch – but even more are we fascinated by the challenge of creating domestic pleasant objects with a technology usually used for industrial parts.

The very basic typology of the Theca sideboard can be found in all forms, from different eras dating back to the 18th century and with a great appearance in mid century’s Scandinavian design - we tried to find a contemporary yet simple and unobtrusive language.

The body (frame) of the sideboard is composed of stamped aluminium sides and solid wooden shelves, the back and the sliding doors are made of (cut and bent) aluminium. The construction is simple – bolts fix the solid wooden boards to the punched aluminium sides. Two tones are available for the anodized finish of the aluminium parts – black or natural. The shelves come in European cherry tree or black stained ash. Theca exists in four sizes, two different heights (55cm and 78cm) and two different widths (90cm et 120cm). The higher version comes with an additional shelf.

Steelwood Galva is a new version of the Steelwood chair and bar stool in galvanised steel and beech wood.

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and Erwan Bouroullec for Magis appeared first on Dezeen.

Congratulations to the winners! Michael Hanley from the UK, James Roach from the UK, Szilvia Marcella Varga from Hungary, Jenny Vogler from Germany and Marcin Kwietowicz from Poland all won a copy of Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec: Drawing.

French designers Ronan & Erwan Bourourellec have compiled a selection of their drawings from sketchbooks, loose sheets or digital archives between 2005 and 2012.

The sketches show the brothers' form and pattern studies for furniture and installation designs.

The book contains over 800 images originally drawn in pencil, ballpoint pen, felt-tip pen or on a graphic tablet.

Drawings ranged from the size of a Post-it note to an A1 sheet, but have been formatted to fit the A4 pages.

Published by JRP Ringier with art direction by Cornel Windlin, the paperback book is now available to buy in bookstores worldwide.

This competition is now closed.

Five winners will be selected at random and notified by email. Winners’ names will be published in a future edition of our Dezeen Mail newsletter and at the top of this page. Dezeen competitions are international and entries are accepted from readers in any country.

We filmed a movie with Erwan Bouroullec in which he describes the textured tiles launched at Clerkenwell Design Week last year - watch it here.

See all our stories about designs by the Bouroullec brothers »

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Bouroullec - Drawing to be won appeared first on Dezeen.

Launching at trade fair imm cologne this week, Ready Made Curtain is a collaboration between Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec and Danish textile manufacturer Kvadrat.

The curtain is designed as a flexible hanging system that users can adapt to fit any window.

The kit comprises a hanging cord, wall fixings, pegs and your choice of Kvadrat textiles.

The hanging cord can be adjusted to fit any width of window using its winding mechanism, which the designers say was inspired by the tension in a guitar string.

The cord can be wound tighter when needed in order to maintain the right length and tension, and is easily transferable to another window.

"Little skill and few tools are needed, margin for error has been considered and perfection isn’t an absolute requirement," Ronan and Erwan Bourourllec explain. "In fact, the charm of the imperfect in opposition to the overly sanitised interior is something we believe in."

The curtain is available in a lightweight, semi-transparent fabric and a woollen fabric, both of which come in three colours. There's also a variety of colours for the winding mechanism, cord and pegs.

We've featured several projects by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, including a collection of cutlery for Alessi and a range of wooden furniture for a Danish university – see all our stories about the Bouroullecs.

Dezeen also featured a huge purple curtain installed as a room divider at the Venice Architecture Biennale last year.

Above: movie of Ready Made Curtain

See all our stories about curtains »
See all our stories about textiles »

Here's some more information from the designers:

Kvadrat and designers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec have come together to solve the challenges posed by a little explored area of domestic interior architecture: the curtain. The result is Ready Made Curtain, an original and simple hanging system to suit every window. Kvadrat’s first direct to consumer product will launch at the IMM in Cologne, January 2013.

Above: image from research process

The Ready Made Curtain is the culmination of Kvadrat’s lengthy research into the world of the domestic curtain. Working with ReD Associates, an innovation and strategy consultancy firm, Kvadrat started by investigating existing curtain solutions and comparing them to the requirements of the homeowner. Based on their findings, Kvadrat approached Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec to create Ready Made Curtain a simple yet novel approach for consumers to introduce high quality curtains to their home.

Above: image from research process

The Ready Made Curtain requires the participation of the owner in its making. Everything one needs to fix the curtain is provided: a hanging cord, wall fixings, pegs, and a selection of Kvadrat textiles.

Above: image from research process

"The ambition was to create a new system that allows anyone to install a quality curtain in record time. Little skill and few tools are needed, margin for error has been considered and perfection isn’t an absolute requirement. In fact, the charm of the imperfect in opposition to the overly sanitised interior, is something we believe in," note Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec.

Above: image from research process

The mechanics of the new hanging system have been refined over and over again by the designers until the absolute minimum required material and skill were achieved. This is a purposefully elementary product. The process of installation is straightforward as well. "We wanted to escape a hi-tech situation but we didn’t want to make something rustic or heavy either. We reflected on the popular method of fixing a poster to a wall, just simply with a staple." Similarly, Ready Made Curtain is an enjoyably effortless method of fixing fabric to a window.

Above: image from research process

The ingenuity of the hanging cord – a replacement for the traditional curtain pole – is found in the winding mechanism that enables it to fit any window: "The starting point was a picture in a Japanese book from the fifties. The book was a catalogue of objects and in it was a guitar. From there, we began to explore the system of string tension in guitars.” The cord is an efficient and elegant solution to hanging a curtain. It can be rewound when need be, in order to maintain the right tension, and is easily transferable from window to window.

Anders Byriel, CEO Kvadrat, adds: "A curtain is, we believe, much more than something to keep light out and privacy in – a curtain offers the opportunity to control light and create or completely change the atmosphere in a room." To that end, Ready Made Curtain is available in two different Kvadrat fabrics: a light, semi-transparent fabric or a woolen textile. Both are available in three different colourways and, in turn, a different colour palette of the mechanism, cord and pegs.

Above: image from research process

Ready Made Curtain is an evolution of previous collaborations between the Bouroullecs and Kvadrat in that it offers the customer the opportunity to adapt, change and enhance their interior through the use of textile. "One of the ambitions of our work with Kvadrat is to bring more fabric into interiors. The difference between this and previous products, such as Clouds and North Tiles, is that here we chose not to do any intervention on the fabric. The system is very simple, we have used the lightest touch."

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Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec appeared first on Dezeen.