Capsule FORMÆ

Set within a paper-themed setting at the Collectible design fair in Brussels, FORMÆ unveiled its first “Capsule,” a 200m² immersive space at the crossroads of design and architecture.

The concept: a traveling capsule, an immersive journey showcasing diverse craftsmanship and a unique scenography, where the exploration of materials as the starting point of every creative process takes center stage. For this inaugural edition, FORMÆ invites creators, designers, architects, artisans, and enthusiasts to experience a sensory journey through a scenography designed by architect and designer Pauline Leprince. The Capsule highlights and questions the bond between a designer or artisan and their chosen material, exploring how it is studied, shaped, and transformed to bring inspiring works to life.

Like an initiation into the world of creation, each visitor was guided through a multitude of experts renowned for their skills in interior architecture. Among the showcased craftsmanship were engraved glass by Pauline Roy, resonating with thermoformed glass by Verre l’intérieur, and recycled plastic by Polygood. The Capsule’s white paper structure, created by Procédés Chenel, showcases each artisan and manufacturer through a sequence of spaces that are both open and intimate, fostering connections between designers, creators, and fabricators.

A true ode to materiality, volumes, shapes, and colors intertwine at the heart of the Capsule. The central hub echoes the entire scenography with a material library, featuring materials carefully selected by Carole Petitjean, Material Curator (RDAI), showcased on the stainless steel design piece “PM01,” specially created for the occasion by Pauline Leprince. The materials are presented in their rawest, purest form, offering everyone the opportunity to contemplate the very essence of the creative process. The Capsule opens up a field of possibilities, providing artisans, manufacturers, and architects with material to craft and reflect upon—a rich source of ever more innovative and inspiring ideas.

For this edition, FORMÆ collaborated with Material Bank Europe—a digital platform for architecture and design professionals designed to discover, select, and receive material samples—which, in partnership with Univers Uchronia and Palet (Studio GdB), conceived two sculptural pieces exploring the connections between innovation, craftsmanship, and sustainability within the Capsule.

— Collectible X FORMÆ, du 7 au 10 mars 2024

photos : © Nikolaz Le Coq