Collection: Matali Crasset

One of the most interesting contemporary figures in design, Matali Crasset pursues an experimental and multidisciplinary approach to her work. Her projects often combine crafts, electronic music, architecture and graphics in a transversal and dynamic way. She was born in Chalons-en-Champagne, France, in 1965. In 1988, she moved to Paris where she attended the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle. After her graduation, she collaborated with Denis Santachiara's studio in Milan and later returned to Paris to work with Philippe Starck. During this period, she became head of the Thompson Multimedia research centre and, later, Tim Thom, Thompson's design centre. Subsequently, in 1998, the designer founded her own office in the Belleville district of Paris.

One of her best-known architectural projects is the Hi Hotel in Nice. This bold, innovative hotel with brightly coloured rooms represents a concept of accessible luxury focusing on spaces dedicated to conviviality. In this project, she paid particular attention to sustainability and reducing environmental impacts in the choice of materials and the hotel's kitchen and cleaning products. In designing the exhibition space for the SM's museum in s'Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, Matali Crasset focused on the length of the space, breaking down the usual layout and creating a central, vital artery placing the works and visitors at its heart.

The designer's vision pursues simplification and the search for authenticity. As part of the "Into the Woods" exhibition held in 2015 at the Granville Gallery in Paris, Crasset presented a series of objects made of local wood like hornbeam, maple, sycamore, ash or walnut. Attention to materials, their traditions and manufacturing techniques is one of the most critical aspects for Crasset. Inspired by geometric and kinetic constructions, she designed the "Moirage" table for Exto. The structure with three legs and a removable perforated brass top is modern, minimal but not banal, paying homage to the ancient Italian metalworking tradition. Crasset also collaborates with Pimar, designing items in Lecce stone. She has created several lamps for Fabbian, including the Stick collection of table, wall and pendant lamps. Their design is based on the repetition of a single wooden module inspired by the shape of a pair of pliers, creating an almost graphic texture that envelops and diffuses light.

In 2017, Matali Crasset was selected to participate in the renovation of the Elysée Palace in Paris. Her projects are exhibited in numerous public and private collections around the world, including the Mak in Vienna, the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, the Centre National des Arts Plastiques and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Design Museum in Lisbon, the Art Institute of Chicago and MoMA in New York.