Pillow Talk is the latest concept from COLLECTIBLE In-Depth. This new series of articles  instigates  design encounters in a playful setting. The idea is simple: we pair designers from the Curated Section and each duo then freely chooses three questions to ask to each other. They can tackle any subject, within the realm of design - or not! Today’s duo is Paola Sabourin & Zoé Costes from Sabourin Costes, and Baptiste Comte. 

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Day or night?

Baptiste Compte: Night has its beauty in different ways but I’ll choose “day”. To me, the day is following a more versatile timeline gathering different periods and moments. It contains a very active structure that allows me to be inspired on various levels. The light and the rhythm of society are constantly shifting and the need to adapt to those changes makes the day exciting.

“In general, if function was a meal, ornament would definitely be the spice.”

Sabourin Costes: We’ll pick day as well. Our “night life” is kind of reduced to its bare necessities right now… Over the last couple of months, we’ve been working in a spacious shared space in an old silversmithery that looks like a village. It’s a delight to bike there. Our atelier is flooded with natural light through a big glass roof, so the conditions are perfect for working with materials and colors. Since we are surrounded with creative people, days have also been much more fun  during lockdown.

“Ornaments help us to identify and locate, tell or communicate, remind and organise our action, they guide our attention, express and individualise, can generate an experience, beautify, as well as re-present.”

Ornamental or functional?

SC: Both? Isn’t it always about the balance between the two? We’d say that it starts to be very interesting when one challenges the other. Sometimes the look, the ornamentation is so strong and so present, that it slightly takes over the function. There’s something both thrilling and annoying in having to configure how to best use a beautiful object. But in general, if function was a meal, ornament would definitely be the spice.

BC: Ornamental. Both can improve the value of our surroundings and their definition is pretty subjective to me. In our modern society, ornaments are ubiquitous markers of everyday life and yet frequently ignored, even contested. Ornaments confer a bigger function than only having a decorative aspect. Ornaments help us to identify and locate, tell or communicate, remind and organise our action, they guide our attention, express and individualise, can generate an experience, beautify, as well as re-present.

Loose or Tense ? 

BC: I would say tense as an origin. In general, my work oscillates between an emotion and a function that an object can provide. On the Monolith collection, the pieces result from a very mechanical process dialoguing with air pressure and machine’s strength. The biomorphic ceramics vessels adopt a very relaxed and natural attitude as the resin stool, offering a contrast with its source of creation. Therefore this tension between the machine world and an organic world gives me the possibility to explore and push the outcome further.

SC: Tense. Let’s say tension.
With the Boudins collection, we wanted to create pieces that have a progression, a movement. They start very organised, systemic and gradually become loose and organic. However, the stool is a meticulously calculated piece: each resin rod has been carefully waved by a tensioning process. So really, it's the tension that creates the looseness of the piece. Apart from that, we can definitely say that our way of working is a lot more loose than tense… !

About Sabourin Costes (France)

Sabourin Costes is a Paris-based design studio, founded by Paola Sabourin and Zoé Costes operating in a variety of creative fields including product and furniture design, interior architecture, as well as visual merchandising. In their common practice they focus on creating iconic, yet sensitive designs that easily fit into our daily living environments..

About Baptiste Comte (France)

Baptiste Comte is a designer who graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven. Combining an analytical disciplined skill from previous law studies, and an empirical approach from the design realm, his practice is balanced between a strong sense of observation paired with a creative and playful approach.