Dezeen promotion: Le French Design by VIA has unveiled a list of leading and emerging designers and interior designers who are conveying the essential values of French design.
Selected by an international jury, Le French Design 100 highlights one hundred of the most successful designers either from France or working in France.
"This list is not a ranking, but rather a photograph of French creation at a given moment: it includes the country's leading names as well as its most promising profiles and stars of tomorrow," said VIA, which stands for Valorisation de l'Innovation dans l'Ameublement (promotion of innovation in furniture design).
The list includes Constance Guisset, who recently designed a modular pouf system, called Waves, for furniture brand LaCividina and artist Emmanuelle Moureaux, who created a rainbow-hued installation at the Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design. The full list is available on the Le French Design website.
Each of the designers on the list was chosen for their elegance, audacity and sense of balance.
"All convey the essential values of le French Design: art de vivre, creativity and industry, elegance and a touch of luxury, sustainable innovation, audacity, savoir-faire, balance, heritage, cultural openness and panache," said VIA.
Also included on the list, which is supported by French designer Philippe Starck, are Sam Baron and Charlotte Juillard, who both had their sketches brought to life in blown glass by master glassmaker Massimo Lunardon.
Interior architect Tristan Auer, who was the designer of the year at the September 2017 edition of Maison&Objet and trained under Starck, is also included.
"France is a crossroads of paths running through Europe with an enriching potential for fertile sediments," said Starck. "But it is just a crossroads. Don't expect delirious extravagances or a Calvinist-style austerity. France is a land of digestion, of reflection and of weighing in."
Along with the numerous designers based in France, the list includes several French designers who are working abroad but continuing to spread the vision of French design. This includes Gwenael Nicolas, who is based in Japan, and Patrick Jouin, who has projects in China.
The list includes 50 years of French creation, with studios that were created in 1970s through to those established in the past couple of years. Overall 40 per cent of the designers on the list are women.
Le French Design 100 was determined by a jury presided over by Agnès Kwek, DesignSingapore Council Ambassador, which included Christopher Turner keeper of design, architecture and digital at the V&A Museum and Jochen Eisenbrand chief curator of the Vitra Design Museum.
Read the full list on the Le French Design website.
Main image is by Ranieri Pietra Lavica.