Interieur 2012: French designer Matali Crasset has created a collection of concrete furniture, including a lamp shaped like an interwar military listening device.

Crasset recently became the artistic director of French concrete specialist Concrete by LCDA, and the Concrete collection is a result of this collaboration.

The lamp references concrete acoustic mirrors, also known as "listening ears", which were developed in Britain between the wars to concentrate sound waves and detect airborne invasions.

The bookshelf is designed to be a "backbone of knowledge" with shelves like vertebrae protruding from a central spine.

"This project combines fluidity and the desire to get away from the very common single-piece shapes when concrete furniture is concerned," said the collaborators.

Other projects by Crasset we've featured recently include a set of vessels shaped like horns, speaker components and loudhailers and a woodland hotel room on legs.

We've been publishing some of the best projects from Interieur this year, including furniture that expands like popcorn and an arcade of light beams that appear to bend inwards – see all our stories about Interieur.

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Photographs are by Simon Buisson.

Here's some more information from the designer:

The international designer Matali Crasset is working with Concrete by LCDA as artistic director. This is a new stage in the development of Concrete by LCDA which, after putting its know-how into use to excel in interior design, from now on becomes a design and manufacturing company.

The international designer Matali Crasset is working with Concrete by LCDA as artistic director. This is a new stage in the development of Concrete by LCDA which, after putting its know-how into use to excel in interior design, from now on becomes a design and manufacturing company.

The aim is to tame concrete to so that it will be better incorporated into the heart of our daily life. The range of concrete products that Matali Crasset has designed for Concrete by LCDA invites concrete to be a fully-fledged player in our interiors, both for primary uses and more immaterial functions. So it is in this setting that the material and symbolic dimension of concrete is highlighted.

This initial collection of furniture and objects designed for concrete takes its strength from the beauty of the concrete material. By moulding the concrete, it becomes furniture and then enters into a dialogue with us in our life scenarios. In this way, Matali has designed a collection of timeless and sculptural objects, both obvious and essential, which combine a technical material and a know-how with a high level of craftsmanship with a sensitive approach.

The collection is comprised of three objects which suggest three functions and values: to meet, to store, to light.

Table

Concrete becomes the centre of the house with a very archetypal table which asserts its desire for continuity. The shape is meant to be simple to so that material's sensitive aspect can be revealed: the texture of the wood's grain will reveal more than the manufacturing mode, it locks the project into a long tradition of moulding. The concrete unobtrusively finds its place and becomes a key element in the apartment. Wooden frame is the most frequently used tool for framing concrete walls that are generally reinforced, a forming tool used since the 17th century made from pieces of wood. The concrete is both a very technical material – lightweight concrete – and a material which requires precise handwork; in this way, the mould leaves the trace of the wood and the handwork. This is an archetypal object, with a clean line which easily fits into any type of interior. A large table seating 6 to 10 persons in a spirit of conviviality and hospitality.

Technical description :
Table in ultra-high-performance fibre-reinforced raw concrete and inner core, with a mat varnish surface.
Dimensions: 250 x 100 x 75 cm, also available in 220*100*75 cm.
Weight: 120 kgs
Top 80 kg, each base 20 kg.

Lamp

The lamp is more unexpected, it shows that concrete knows no borders. It refers to the listening ears in Folkestone in England. These objects deriving from technology exiting between the two wars have become obsolete with the arrival of radar beams. The function of these large objects in reinforced concrete was to listen to the sky. The flag changes scale to become a light diffuser. It is placed in various locations in the apartment, standing or suspended. Here the concrete is moulded with great finesse to so that the design can be seen.

Technical description :
Dimensions: 53 x 50 x 31.5 cm
Ultra high-performance raw concrete, LED 18W lamp.
PCB (printed circuit board) made up of 0.5W 36 leds powered by 24V direct current. The power obtained is 18W or about 1800 lumen for a colour of 4000°.
A diffuser made of a white light spectrum moulded acrylic sheet offers an excellent diffusion strength and an eco-efficient solution.
Weight: 18kg

Bookshelf

This is a bookshelf in the image of the backbone of knowledge. The material is known for its strength, this project combines fluidity and the desire to get away from the very common single-piece shapes when concrete furniture is concerned. The material seems to be set in its lightness, like a freeze-frame shot, it retains the momentum and the dynamism of growth. The table and the storage space are a homage to human building genius, to major structures in raw concrete which symbolise modernity.

Technical description :
Dimensions: 190 x 95 x 35 cm.
Smooth ultra-high-performance concrete, Ductal.
Weight: each element 70 kg