Designers, artisans

One was raised in the Drôme region and wanted to leave for a while. The other chose to leave Paris to establish the base camp of an artistic residency project in Dieulefit. As part of the duo, that we formed, we have adopted a viewpoint that is both intimate and personal regarding this region that continues to feed into our aspirations.
It is in the craftsmen’s workshops of Drôme Provençale that the atmosphere became intense and industrious. Filled with smells and sounds, as well as the occasional precise movement performed by the creators as they shape raw or organic surfaces. In the workshop of cabinetmaker Chloé Delannoy, the lines of the walnut are slowly distorted as it is heated in the oven, and the resulting stresses release its resin and amber tones. A little further on, one can hear the wicker creak to the sound of the weaving motion. Basket weaver Victorine Soulard tirelessly intertwines the fibres before they dry. Each material and each technique must be shaped at its own pace. A unique atmosphere that requires both calm and attention to detail.
Providing this framework for emulation by introducing designers, artists and architects to local craftsmen has become a necessity for us. Since 2022, studio mo-mo has acted as a creative laboratory that explores the synergies between know-how and sensitivity, in this gap where raw or transformed matter becomes a catalyst of collective co-creation.
The studio’s philosophy is simple: the material as a starting point. This is an intuitive approach to design where materials dictate the lines and work together as creative partners. Whether it is wood, glass, stone, wicker, metal or even clay, each one is imbued with the story of the region and exposes part of its soul in this hybridisation that combines a technical framework with freedom of form.

The first “OOI” residency invited six artists/designers to engage in a conversation with six craftsmen from the region to create a material library that would emerge from their experiments. Working in close proximity with the materials, this conversation found its place as a means of expression for creativity. Léa Bigot, Pia Chevalier, Pauline Esparon, Margot Graziani, Audrey Guimard and Camille Romagnani designed a collection of furniture where innovation and vernacular practices are placed on an equal footing. This collection using local channels was presented at the Design Parade and at Paris Design Week.
Bringing together a vocabulary of actions, techniques and concepts applied to the use of the object is an attempt to connect two worlds that seem far apart, i.e. that of contemporary design, which is sometimes disconnected from traditional realities, and that of traditional craftsmanship, which is often relegated to a purely functional role.
Transforming matter as well as the perception of our ties, mo-mo has found its vocation in this place, hidden in these four letters like four hands, i.e. these collaborations bring to life the fundamental relationship between material and object.

January 2025. Attractive Matters, the attraction of matter continues its exploration. FORMÆ is organising the 2nd edition of this exhibition and has asked studio mo-mo to be co-curator.

The new creations are the fruit of a growing community (Emilieu Studio, Thibault Huguet, Mimo Studio, Voto xo, Carlès & Demarquet, Cobalto Studio), working in collaboration with the network of craftsmen and the OOI collective. They also bear the imprint of a list of resources that has diversified: maple, oak, molten glass, limestone, marble, plant fibres and stainless steel.
The Emilieu Studio project is tackling reuse by bringing Carpenter PM on board to create a channel for recycling marble waste. Studio mo-mo is co-signatory to a modular and sculptural collection, by inviting the mobilier singulier (unique furniture) workshop, that specialises in old wood and Audrey Guimard, a stone sculptor.
All these collaborations give rise to the following unique equation: “1 + 1 = 3”. The framework in which we operate is accompanying this region, that is currently in transition, and offers a range of tools to bring together centres that seem very far apart at first glance through creation and passing on know-how. •