This new series, COLLECTIBLE In-Depth, unveil the backstage of contemporary creation. Tackling various topics from personal designer processes to the position of collectible design on the global design market; these COLLECTIBLE In-Depth offer different views to suit all tastes. Today we talk with Thomas Ghaye from Avenue du Roi.

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COLLECTIBLE: How would you describe the boundary between functional art and collectible design? Where do you situate your practice between those two?

Thomas Ghaye: It is precisely this in-between questioning by the designers we represent that interests us. Their practice, through distinct approaches, is located at the crossroads of different mediums that question our relationship to art, craft and design. 

Avenue du Roi is the meeting of art and design, the dialogue between the artist and the designer, the discovery between the work and the viewer.

C: What is your opinion on 3D designs and renderings compared to other more traditional ways of presenting design? How do you foresee evolutions in that domain: do you think it is a practice that is here to stay or an ephemeral one that reflects our needs for escapism and imaginary spaces?

Thomas Ghaye: 3D design is interesting if it is used as a tool and not an end in itself. In our opinion, the technique of 3D printing in particular will endure over time if it combines tradition and modernity. Advanced methods and equipment allow a reinterpretation of ancestral forms and techniques. 

C: Can you talk about the designers you present at COLLECTIBLE this year, what makes their practice/pieces unique?

TG: For our first participation at COLLECTIBLE, we will bring together the work of Emmanuelle Roule, Studio Biskt and La Double Clique who have been exploring the question of furniture. The designers will propose experimental pieces, created specifically for the fair using distinct approaches where materials, techniques and different concerns are mixed.

C: Can you talk about a place you recently visited that inspires you?

TG: Marseille! With its incredible mix of cultures and some of the most beautiful coastal landscapes in the Mediterranean, Marseille inspires our work and will be the subject of the next Avenue du Roi exhibition, "Teintes Fauves". This will be an exhibition that brings together artists and designers based in Marseille whose work draws its inspiration from the energy of the city. 

About Avenue du Roi

Avenue du Roi is the meeting of art and design, the dialogue between the artist and the designer, the discovery between the work and the viewer. Avenue du Roi consists of a kitchen, a dining room and a living room. A place to live where Elie and Thomas, the craftsmen of this project, welcome you, at the heart of sharing. Sharing  of an intuition, a creation, a know-how, a vision of the world. Avenue du Roi takes place in the intimate atmosphere of an apartment where the need to live meets the need to dream.

Artists and designers play the game of creating directly for the place and more broadly to the notion of habitat, while visitors discover the result in the comfort of a lively and convivial place, taking the time to look, to appreciate, to understand and to meet. 

Avenue du Roi offers to experience the encounter with the work and with the other in an intimate and convivial relationship.

Thomas Ghaye and Elie Schonfeld (Founders), Portrait.  © Louise Skadhauge and Avenue du Roi