A collective of free creatives or a straightforward small firm? In fact, Label Famille accepts only one definition: design agency. We meet its two founders: visionary twenty-somethings who examine on a daily basis their relationship to the creative process in order to better meet the expectations and needs of their contemporaries.
Cyril Quenet and Camille Zonca met on the benches of ENSAD, the prestigious École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs art and design school of which they are graduates. It’s here that they experienced the clear benefits of collective, multi-disciplinary work. Studying in parallel vocational fields – Camille in product and spatial design and Cyril in graphic design and brand imagery – the talented pair wanted to make the most of their complementarity as well as the idea of transversality in the wider sense, by developing an original working structure and methodology.
« Operating as a pair, we run the rm on a daily basis as well as managing the artistic direction of its projects,
the latter always based on tailor-made teams of two, three or four people chosen to suit our clients. » The agency, now made up of five full-time staff, is based on a network of 50 independent creatives: cherry-picked product designers, set designers, architects, illustrators and even film- makers.
Depending on what is required, Label Famille initiates and leads encounters between the different universes, imaginations and personalities of those in their network. This collision of cultures and styles, the result of ‘continuums’ – what they call their work methods – ensures relevance and impact.
As an example, when asked to design a conference space for the property promoter ICADE in the form of a residence welcoming artists and designers, Label Famille brought together a contemporary visual artist and a product designer to create, among other things, a sculptural mosaic podium both practical and inspired.« The point of our global perception, beside the fact of offering complementary and coherent tools at different key developmental moments for our clients, is to propose the right solutions to specific demands and to go even further in helping brands to ourish. ».
For example, brand identity work for the investor Trucy resulted in the invention of an incisive ideogram, the ‘cutogramme’ – a highly original feature that the customer loved. A 3D totem object with a nod to the world of fine art, it encapsulates all of the firm’s values.If Label Famille likes mixing things up to open up new avenues, the agency places artistic expression at the heart of all its projects, however commercial. When luxury jewellery brand Art de Nouer asked Label Famille to foreground their links with contemporary art, the agency worked to distance it from the visual codes normally associated with fashion, instead creating a series of images that raised the statue of the accessories to veritable ‘wearable sculptures’. Similarly, when it came to rethinking the concept of the iconic but outdated drinks cabinet for furniture curator PlumBum, its thinking was to raise practicality to the ranks of art by bringing together a product designer, a social designer and a textile designer. The result was Tchin, blending restraint with a luminous poetry.
« Our main strength resides in our network as a whole, so we’ve looked for a way to showcase it. That’s how Squaresquaresquare was born. » Originally installed in 11th-arrondissement premises resembling an art gallery, Cyril, Camille and the three other permanent members of the Label Famille were quick to seize the potential of this space. « We decided to design a place that was in itself multi- disciplinary: a workspace during the week, Squaresquaresquare transforms itself at weekends into an exhibition space for displaying the personal work of the artists in our network. » As the cornerstones of the project, Label Famille conceived a set of wooden plinths imitating the rather stern look of polished stone, which serve as both desk bases and exhibition stands. It’s this cheeky object that features in this month’s Designerbox, in a miniature version. Available in two concrete versions, pink and light grey, Socle invites you to bring the extraordinary into your daily life. Soaps, pens, newspaper cuttings and other small treasures will find their rightful place on these elegant pedestals that instantly transform daily objects and tools into undeniable works of art.
See Label Famille online shop, by clicking here
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