Décor Meeting #15: Noma Edition Part 2, Inspirations and Modularity

Here is the second part of the interview with Bruce Ribay for Noma edition. He will share his sources of inspiration and his views on decoration and modular design.

How do you define your profession as a publisher, and what qualities are required?

Resilience. We didn’t know this profession and had to learn it in a complicated context. We launched during COVID and didn’t know if the difficulty was due to the health crisis or because we didn’t know how to do our job well. It’s probably both.

You need patience, energy, a network, etc. The qualities required are similar to any startup when you’re starting out. We are conductors. The quality we must highlight is human relationships. We have to get along well with the orchestra: the designers, the manufacturers, etc.

This profession involves many different trades. So you have to be versatile and open-minded. It’s not always easy.

Do you think your profession will have to reinvent itself? Especially with the pandemic we are going through?

Yes and no. The downside of the crisis is the halt of the economy and a complicated business environment. When we launched the project three years ago, we wanted to show that "consuming better" is not just a trend. It already existed fifteen years ago. Today, it is a priority that encourages people to consume differently. There isn’t a day that goes by without hearing about recycling, responsible consumption, etc. That reassures us. We have a proposal that makes sense and has a real reason to exist today. More so in our market. We are the only ones offering products of this type. It requires a lot of development. It’s not just about finding plastic and a designer.

When you see a product at NOMA, you wouldn’t guess that everything is made from recycled materials. So we are not changing our direction. If we could change things, we would have more volume and lower prices. We know we are in a high price range, and that can be a commercial barrier. Today, we offer our products at the right price. We have relevant design, durable products made in France from recycled materials. As a young company, we work in small series. In France, in the decoration field, brands rely on retailers, which increases margins. As a result, products become more and more expensive. Launching a brand doesn’t happen in six months. For now, we continue in this direction.

In your opinion, do decoration and furniture impact our moods and well-being?

I think unconsciously, yes. You can clearly see it when we are at the office or working from home. If we don’t have a good chair to sit on, we don’t feel comfortable. For me, decoration is about visual well-being. When we have beautiful objects, it contributes to well-being. Moreover, if the furniture is comfortable, it goes hand in hand. It’s the same for bedding, for example. So yes, it’s important.

Do you have a personal and/or professional project that you dream of accomplishing one day?

Professionally, I wanted to create a furniture brand. Guillaume and I are in the process of making that dream come true. We have many ambitions for NOMA, such as designing and producing a luminous product. We know that the challenge with this type of product is not the pretty lampshade made from recycled material but how to work with the electronics. Successfully working with recycled electronics is a real issue we are tackling. This is one of the more difficult topics for which we are seeking solutions. On a personal level, everything is going well. I try to balance professional and personal life.

What are your sources of inspiration? Do you have any recommended social media accounts or brands that you appreciate?

Our inspirations revolve around the notion of beautiful objects, although that is subjective. We are very curious and draw inspiration from what moves us in terms of design. We have no limits. Guillaume and I have similar tastes. That makes the task easier. We are sensitive to original and quirky designs. We try to include them in our collections, but they are not necessarily what will be highlighted.

Today, we have quite timeless designs. We work with all kinds of materials. It’s true that for our first collection, we used a lot of plastic. Today, we are going to develop new things with different materials. The main thing is to love what we offer and that our products meet all our constraints. We draw inspiration from social networks and the press. On the internet, it’s a kind of constant monitoring of these kinds of questions.

For brands, we really like “Eaux fragiles.” They make tableware. There is also a French brand that makes furniture in Africa from metal they cast. It’s quite interesting. There are also material brands we like such as “Le Pavé” in Paris. They collect plastic waste to make panels and we buy them to transform. These are young graduate architects investing a lot of time and money.

We try to collaborate with French companies. There is “SCALE” which makes a material from fish scales. We also have “Seconde Vie” which recovers old mattresses to make recycled foam blocks. These are French initiatives recovering French waste with primary and secondary material production. We also work with the Emmaüs workshop which develops a product from reclaimed wood. It’s a social integration workshop. The social aspect is very important to us.

And finally, what do you think about the Pegboard and modular design? Should we prefer a single-function object? Or does multifunction bring solutions that fit our lifestyles?

We mainly work on single-function pieces. However, for storage furniture or shelves, modularity is useful. But for seating or tables, these are not easy topics. That doesn’t stop us from launching in September a table that isn’t modular but on which we worked the dual function. A table for eating but also a table where you can work remotely. It’s a table with a double top that allows you to store your work things. When you want to eat, you can put all your stuff away.

Feel free to check out our latest article: The Studio Ammo

Interview conducted by Clara Didier

Formatted by Coralie Mottu