Here's the second part of the interview with Hugo Delavelle. You'll discover where his inspiration comes from. He'll also share his thoughts on multifunctional and sustainable furniture.
In your opinion, do decoration and therefore responsible furniture have an impact on our moods and our well-being?
This has an impact on our lifestyle. The issue is complicated when you consider the environmental impact. I don't create four collections a year like people in fashion. I want to make furniture that is as free from trends and colors that disappear very quickly.
I'm more for timeless products, ensuring long-lasting products in addition to their repairability. We pay close attention to the products that make up the furniture. We use natural oils and formaldehyde-free glues. All of this aims to ensure indoor air is as unpolluted as possible in terms of VOCs (volatile organic compounds).
Oiling the wood, not wrapping it in a truly waterproof film like varnish or mother-of-pearl, also allows it to retain its ability to absorb moisture. This helps to homogenize the humidity level in the air. We create our products to be as pleasant as possible. This is true for their functionality, ergonomics, and comfort. It's difficult to say that I improve users' daily lives through design.
Do you have a project that you dream of carrying out one day with your sustainable furniture?
On a professional level, if we can make the world a better place on our own, that's already a good thing. We want our employees to be as fulfilled as possible. Hopefully, this will inspire other entrepreneurs and we can manage to produce locally without killing the planet. Hence our responsible furniture production.
What are your sources of inspiration for your responsible furniture?
Nature, agriculture, the forest. When we talk about the circular economy, in the forest there are no chemical inputs, weedkillers, or pesticides. The flora will renew itself automatically. The leaves that fall each autumn and decompose in the soil will be able to nourish all the life in the soil. This will produce humus that will nourish the tree. We truly have something circular without inputs and that is infinitely renewable. Nothing is lost. Every branch and leaf that falls will become the substrate on which the tree will grow.
I'm a country boy, my father was a forest ranger and I live in the countryside. I grow vegetables, market gardens, and fruit trees. I like this model, which is more virtuous than excessive consumption. When you're a designer, it's a bit contradictory because you're supposed to create as much need as possible to push the consumer to buy. And then, on the other hand, I aim to consume as little as possible and live a little self-sufficiently.
Perhaps you will create a new form of design?
We call it eco-design or slow design. This is what I try to practice with my responsible furniture. As I was saying, environmental impact is at the heart of our creative process. This fuels our creative process. This means I have less of a guilty conscience when designing and producing consumer goods because they are produced to minimize environmental impact.
We select trees that have grown in this type of forest that renews itself naturally. These are not trees from monoculture plantations. We have oak, beech, or walnut trees that have grown naturally. We don't cultivate in the sense that we plant trees to cut them down after 25 years and plant new ones. It's natural selection.
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Do you have any recommendations for brands or individuals?
Among the designers whose approach is original and whom I like, I think of Sébastien Cordoléani. He created the leather goods brand Archipel. He sells seamless, handcrafted leather products. He's a more conventional designer; he doesn't come from a leather goods background at all. It's interesting to have people who manage everything in-house, who design, who produce. It gives a lot of things when the designer is linked to the manufacturing process.
In terms of eco-design, there's Philippe Riesling, who's based in Strasbourg. He does a bit of scenography in design.
Finally, what do you think of the Pegboard and modular design? Should we prefer a single-function object? Or does multifunction provide solutions that are in line with our lifestyles?
I knew about the Pegboard, but I didn't know the name. It's often what we have in trucks, craftsmen's vehicles, or in workshops. These perforated metal wall panels are very functional for hanging tools. I didn't know the name Pegboard, and I discovered it with Aire thanks to the circular booster. With the multifunction, I'm always careful. I give design classes to craftsmen, and I often tell them that nothing works well on a Swiss Army knife. You won't make boards with the saw, you won't cook well with the blade, you won't clean your teeth well with the toothpick; there's nothing that works well on a Swiss Army knife. It has lots of functions, it's great, it fits well in your pocket, but which function works well? None.
That's the risk when you put a lot of functions into an object. You have to be able to respond to these functions correctly. On the other hand, there are aspects that are interesting, for example the fact that it's scalable. We can configure it ourselves according to the evolution of our needs, if we change location, or activity. But also if we change age. So there is an interest in that, but I sometimes find it utopian.
Society and its evolution
The society we live in means that people tend to change their interiors rather than evolve them. The simple appearance of things limits their lifespan and the desire for renewal. I'm working on this with my collections: I try to give objects a second life by offering to take back furniture that people want to get rid of. Since the furniture is of good quality, we can recondition it.
The real challenge now will be to succeed in keeping our products in good condition and still attractive to others, even after their first use. Today we are talking about the economy of functionality. I think there is a real challenge in no longer selling a piece of furniture but selling the function of sitting or eating. A restaurateur will change his furniture every five or ten years, what will he do with it afterward? Even if with the advent of digital technology we all think Leboncoin. There are possibilities that allow us to repair these objects. There are, in my opinion, many things to do to change consumption habits and marketing habits.
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