For the theme of its 2022 Design Awards, French supplier Gainerie 91 chose Les Bibelots de Luxe, or “an original and refined gift”. From among the 100 or so applications from French design students, the company shortlisted 12 projects, each of which is centered on a luxury brand’s design codes. The winners will be unveiled at an evening ceremony at the Jeu de Paume museum in Paris on July 7th. The jury included packaging experts from Gainerie 91; luxury houses Fred, Van Cleef & Arpels and Blancpain; design agency Noir Vif and Luxe Packaging Insight and Formes de Luxe’s Alissa Demorest.
El Guijarro, a project by Lola Combette (Ecole Boulle), is a perfumed ceramic disc housed in a woven leather shell. The accessory, designed to be worn on a purse or a piece of clothing, recalls the leatherworking heritage of Spanish brand Loewe. “The leather used to create the accessory could be made from scraps from Loewe’s workshops. The variety of color combinations possible means it is a gift that can be personalized,” Combette explained to the jury.
Sisavath Sendy (Ecole Boulle) worked on Chanel’s design codes for her project: a luxury fragrance sample holder that doubles as a fashion accessory. The case, made of the brand’s iconic quilted leather and chain, is conceived to hold a 1.5ml fragrance and can be attached either to an accessory or to an item of clothing.
Arthur Viviant (École et Lycée des Métiers d'Art et du Design Auguste Renoir) reinvented the classic French board game Petits Chevaux to fit Hermès’ design aesthetic. The board for Petit Cheval is a square of leather that can be rolled up and stored in a cylindrical wooden box, while the horse-head shaped pieces are made of white porcelain with a leather mane.
Love You to the Moon and Back, created by Camille de Crane d'Heysselaer (Ecole Camondo) is a brass brooch designed for the maison Dior. Fastened thanks to an integrated magnet, the accessory, meant to be worn during brand events, can be personalized with different colors.
Armelle Girardon, Maxime Etienne et Héloïse Nicolas, a trio of students from Strate Ecole de Design, immersed themselves in French designer Jacquemus’ brand universe. A white ceramic citrus press featuring the brand’s logo in blue, La Citronnade was designed to be “simple and functional”, while recalling the designer’s southern France heritage. The press comes in a blue hat-shaped box with leather handles.
Benoît Vannier’s (EDAA Reims) La Maîtrise du Temps, a variable flow hourglass features a screw-top mechanism that controls the amount of sand that passes through the hourglass and therefore allows the user to “master time”. The hourglass is made of leather and brushed nickle-plated brass.
With Egeria, Hugues Moreau (Ecole & Lycée des Métiers d'Art et du Design Auguste Renoir) transformed an everyday household item, a dog bowl, into a luxury keepsake. Inspired by jewelry house Boucheron’s mascott, Wladimir the cat, Moreau’s porcelain dish is sheathed in leather at the base. The item is in the shape of Boucheron’s logo – a bird’s eye view of the Place Vendôme – and engraved with the brand name on the facing.
Lucile Chesneau (ESAD Reims) created Lustre, a palette to hold leather balm for on-the-go care of shoes or accessories. The 2cm x 7cm metal embossed palette contains one pan of balm and space for two pieces of cloth (by-products from a brand’s workshop), one of which is meant to wipe off raindrops. Its rounded edges mean that the case doesn’t snag on the inside of one’s purse.
Coline Mariot and Capucine Riveron (Strate Ecole de Design) created a bag for the Jacquemus brand to house French petanque balls. Made of vegan leather and braided willow, the bag is to be worn as a backpack thanks to a recycled polyster cord. With this project, the students aimed to create a playful link between the brand and its consumer.
Clara Martignolles and Emmie Révillon (Ecole Boulle) presented Carnele R, a cord for glasses that doubles as a fashion accessory. Conceived for Thierry Mugler, the cotton (or linen) and lamb’s leather band is intricately worked with beads and a metallic thread embroidery.
Lucie Gonon (Intuit Lab) looked to Hermès equestrian competitions to create her project, Horizon Hermès. The miniature pair of binoculars replicates the striped jumping bars in the brand’s events, the very same stripes that feature on Hermès lipstick range. Covered in leather, the binoculars are meant to be engraved with the client’s name while the brand logo is engraved on a brass or gold medallion.
Enivré is an incense burner designed by Morgane Bouilleau and Chloé Viard (IFFDEC Rennes) for a perfume brand’s home fragrance offer. Made of glass and mycelium leather, the ring-shaped object fills up with smoke when the incense cone is lit.
