interview with graphic designers antoine+manuel

top image: antoine+manuel photgraphed by pascal béjean

designboom recently spoke to the french design-duo, antoine audiau and manuel warosz (antoine+manuel).

DB: please could you tell us briefly how you met and decided to work together?
A+M: we met in a prep art school in paris in 1984 where we fell in love. manuel studied product design at paris école nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs while antoine started working as a fashion designer. then the happy couple started working together as graphic designers under the name antoine+manuel in 1993.

DB: what have been some of the significant developments in the history of your studio?
A+M: well, that we are still working together after many years, just the two of us! we are also proud to have become members of the alliance graphique internationale in 2012.

DB: how do you share / divide your workload between each other?
A+M: as we are only two, work is divided equally between us – sometimes we need the help of interns and technicians. manuel is more into vectors and antoine into more paint, photo, color…

cartieroscope, 2013 video projection,
12 x 135 m, 24 min
cartier, le style & l’histoire exhibition
salon d’honneur du grand palais, paris
photos by antoine+manuel

cartieroscope, 2013 video projection,
12 x 135 m, 24 min
cartier, le style & l’histoire exhibition
salon d’honneur du grand palais, paris

cartieroscope, 2013 video projection,
12 x 135 m, 24 min
cartier, le style & l’histoire exhibition
salon d’honneur du grand palais, paris

cartieroscope, 2013 video projection,
12 x 135 m, 24 min
cartier, le style & l’histoire exhibition
salon d’honneur du grand palais, paris

DB: how did you come to work on the type of projects you do now?
A+M: through lazyness. most of the time we are waiting for people to contact us and inquire about a project. it could be seen as a pretentious posture but it is not, it’s just the way it has been since the beginning. we decided early on that we only wanted to work in the fields of culture and fashion, working with people who most of the time are artists, spaces where we can experience creation. perhaps that’s why our projects are so diverse.

DB: how would you describe your work to someone who hasn’t seen it before?
A+M: It’s very difficult to describe everything we have done especially in terms of ‘style’.
I usually would say, do you have an internet access? please let us show you our work!

graphiste et designer exhibition view
musée des arts décoratifs paris,
january 15 – may 3rd 2009
photo luc boeglin

graphiste et designer exhibition view
musée des arts décoratifs paris,
january 15 – may 3rd 2009
photo luc boeglin

DB: what medium do you enjoy working with the most?
A+M: we like to practice lots of various mediums. these days we are more into animated digital projections – having wanted to work with moving image for many years.

DB: which project have you enjoyed working on the most so far?
A+M: the last one, the ‘cartieroscope’ that we did for the RMN-grand palais for the cartier exhibition in paris (cartier. le style & l’histoire. grand palais, paris. december 4, 2013–february 16, 2014). we created a video projection of 24 minutes, 13 x135 meters wide specifically for the salon d’honneur of the grand palais. when we visited the salon d’honneur for the first time, we almost instantly dreamed of transforming it into a giant hall of mirrors, inspired by a distant childhood memory of the one at the musée grévin. in the end we adorned the space with living frescoes, having drawn freely on cartier’s history and style to create eight scenes that conjure up the wondrous world of the great jewelry house.

cabinet tout va bien, sideboard, 2009
102 x 250 x 57 cm
bd barcelona
photo rafael vargas

chapelle, evolving installation, 2008-2011
2,50 x 3,05 x 2,50 m
musée des arts décoratifs paris/cndc angers
photo antoine+manuel

la france, side table, 2007
47 x 120 x 60 cm
photo antoine+manuel

 DB: what areas of your work are you hoping to explore in the near future?
A+M: continuing to explore digital animations in new surroundings. we are now working on our next solo exhibition which will be held at the chapelle des calvairiennes, a 17th century chapell in mayenne, france from may 24–july 6, 2014. we are also preparing our summer workshop as tutors at boisbuchet.

DB: what do you know now that you wish you knew when you were at university?
A+M: that you can work with your ex-boyfriend!

graphic village exhibition poster
hong kong heritage museum,
november 28, 2009 – february 15, 2010

graphic village exhibition view
hong kong heritage museum,
november 28, 2009 – february 15, 2010
photo antoine+manuel

graphic village exhibition view
hong kong heritage museum,
november 28, 2009 – february 15, 2010
photo antoine+manuel

3.1 (respire) poster, 2003
CCNT, centre chorégraphique national de tours

saison poster, 2013-2014
la comédie de clermont-ferrand scène nationale

schools poster, 2011
CNDC, centre national de danse contemporaine, angers

43 (Bug),  2003
used for the invitation to to christian lacroix’s haute couture fall-winter 2008-2009

rendez-vous 4 (peindre) poster, 2003
collection lambert en avignon, contemporary art museum

DB: what do you do to keep your ideas fresh?
A+M: we swim, we cook, we travel, we love meeting new people…

DB: what’s the last thing that made you say ‘wow’?
A+M: the party we had for antoine’s birthday last december, which is also the day manuel and antoine met, many years ago.