Stool
Project : Bienvini A Kay La Guiablesse
Context (inspiration) : on an evening like any other, sitting on his stool around a crackling fire, Monsieur Médouze, the old man from the rue case nègre, tells Joseph a multitude of exciting stories.
In the West Indies, oral culture has endured through storytelling. Derived from the original African tale, the West Indian tale enabled slaves, forced to leave their homes, and later their descendants, to express their feelings and their rebellion against colonial society.
Design : the Guiablesse, a figure of the island's inhabitants, is also renowned for her storytelling talents. Her stool here symbolises this touching scenario between the old man and the young boy. Here the stool is designed as a totem object that pays tribute to these many tales. Like the Guiablesse with its goat's foot, the stool presents a particular “anomaly” with this organic foot that contrasts with the geometric aspect of the whole object. Civilised and disciplined, the Guiablesse nevertheless retains a subtle, but strong, wild and rebellious character.
Fabrication : by Atelier Blouberg and Le Tour de main.
Materials : beech wood, turned, assembled, sanded and varnished for a mahogany effect (a wood widely used in the Caribbean islands) + three cylindrical cushions with covers, custom-sewn in black linen fabric.
Dimensions (cm) : W51 x D43 x H32
Pipe Holder
Project : Bienvini A Kay La Guiablesse
Context : La Guiablesse is more than a character, she represents the inhabitants and habits of her island. Like M'man Tine in "Rue Case Nègre", the Guiablesse is in the habit of smoking her pipe while watching from afar.
Design : like a dream or a memory, the pipe holder is vague. With its malleable appearance, it seems to be impacted by the island's Alizées (trade winds). It can also be seen as a "living" object that crawls to reach the pipe (animism approach)
Fabrication : handmade by me, with the preicous help of Amandine Capion
Materials : cut wood and hand-modeled clay lining, all covered with filler.
Dimensions (cm) : Ø10 x Ø3 x H100
Dominoes
Project : Bienvini A Kay La Guiablesse
Context : dominoes are a very popular game in the French West Indies. It is part of the folklore. In Martinique, it is played by 3 rather than 4 players.
Design : this explains the triangular shape of the table. The dominoes are pierced with holes to indicate their numbering. That way, they can be stored vertically, along a rod. Their shape creates a pattern of fullness and emptiness when placed on the table. In the French West Indies, dominoes are played with such intensity, that dominoes, usually rectangular, seem to have been tightly held between the fingers.
Fabrication : laser cutting (Toulon Fablab) of a panel of 5 mm poplar plywood, whose faces I glued together to create a thickness of 10 mm. I engraved the central body of the domino, then sanded and varnished it for a mahogany finish (a wood widely used in the Caribbean islands).
Materials : 5 mm poplar plywood doubled to create a 10 mm thick domino.
Dimensions (mm) : W40 x L80 x T10
Wall of Scent
Project : Bienvini A Kay La Guiablesse
Fabrication : Handmade by me. I came to randomly model blocks taking the organic shape of my hands. With my fingers, I accentuated receptacles to hold the drops (cf. design explained).
Materials : self-hardening natural clay, threaded rod, nuts and flat washers.
Design : originally an openwork wall, this sample allows us to understand the sensory intention. Indeed, each block can receive drops of essential oil in its organic form, creating an olfactory ambience in the interior room. Indeed, the heat and humidity of the tropical climate accentuate the natural properties of clay, a natural perfume diffuser.
Dimensions per block (cm) : L10 x l10 x E3
Proventus
/Workshop as a team of three with Porter Olivia and Puthod Elioth
/Directed by Paillard Camille in collaboration with Passolunghi François
/Nikon D5600 + Autocad + Rhino
/Duration : 5 days
/Master 1 Camondo 2022
Rattan sculpture in the image of a folding screen "for the wind" passing through it, while creating a gentle sound effect of rattan sticks jostling each other.This assemblage invites the material to express itself in its most natural form, the stems having retained their skin.