François Bauchet is showing nine pieces. The series is called cellae, it is a composition of storage units, tables of different heights and shelves.A clear-colored felt regularly punctured and soaked in a polymer-tinted resin, constitutes the unique material of this collection. The unity of the material echoes the unity of the design and its rhythm. The formal vocabulary repeats itself in an identical manner, following a single modular logic. Only dimensions change, in response to the scale of each piece, while remaining attentive to its function. cellae is a line anchored with repetition and marked by its fracture. A pace and discontinuity governed by variations: the clear concentration of vocabulary reinforces its strength, while provoking an emotional response. It is within these self-inflicted constraints – material, drawing, number, functions – that the force of this collection persists.

The characteristics of tension and release (possibly the most fascinating side of what design and architecture have developed) guide its lines. These characteristics drive the dynamic rigor of each piece. With a complex technical display, the work maintains a feeling of ease, lightness, simplistic elegance and strength. François Bauchet will speak of “obvious realizations” but they are in fact tainted with complexities. We could for instance reflect on the severity of a shade of grey, supposedly unique. It does not do justice to the variety of tones of this magical grey: its pigments interact with the felt as they are fixed on to the material, bringing a depth to the immaterial. Mineral ice, synthetic mother of pearl – these are abstract forces living in the elementary chemistry of colors. They disturb the modular drawing: depth no longer answering to the numbered measure. This chromatic choice and its treatment, bring us back to mineral, animal, or organic dimensions, which are inherent to the work.

These origins and possible influences, unconsciously awoken in us by the collection, are also a part of the coherence of the work. For Bauchet, the first steps of the creative process can be compared to monoliths—working from the mass of the material to the refinement of the piece, a process of subtracting not adding. This coherence is played out in the wonderful mass of the pieces, where austerity is just another challenge.

Throughout the collection Bauchet uses a modern approach, playing with angles and positioning the partitions of the modules in a slightly slanted manner. It’s a refusal to comply with the general and physical order of orthogonality. Unbalance comes forth. cellae is like a shadow cut with a sharp blade. A rhythm can be found in each of the nine pieces. This rhythm is brought forward by a rupture in the dynamic of each piece’s thematic variations. Cut and sever: the truth of the series lies in its steep slices, in which can be found violence and therefore movement. A peculiar energy comes from the collection, edging us closer to the void, inspired by multiple perspectives.

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Pierre Doze