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COLLECTIBLE: Could you briefly introduce your practice and tell us about your past projects?

Christopher Dessus:

Based in Paris, Paf is an architectural and scenographic design studio. 

We are driven by experimentation and research in architecture and art. Each project that is signed by the studio is a measured search between knowledge and know-how, reflection and creation. We believe the design and the production cannot be considered in a dissociated way.

Since scenography is ephemeral, depending on the project, we reflect on the environmental impact it has. We adopt a responsible, ethical and sustainable approach, both in the choice of materials and construction techniques and in the application of local know-how. From design to montage (or construction), we implement coordination, reuse and optimisation techniques.

Paf atelier does not close any doors, we remain open to multiple fields of intervention.

From retail with Birkenstock or Maison Château-Rouge, architectural and scenographic conception for Quartz-Co or the Orient Express, to live shows and concerts, notably for Eurovision France, to fashion shows. We are multifaceted! 

We attach great importance in studying the context and territory of each project by adopting a personalised, creative and innovative perspective, always with the Paf touch.

C: What is your vision for COLLECTIBLE’s scenography? Where are you drawing inspiration from?

CD: We are designing and producing a single-material scenography in order to create an essential decor that corresponds to our aspirations: bringing to light technicalities and new positions in the design around materials. The inflatable is a product that we have been working on for a few months now with craftsmen who support us in making these objects. 

Inflatable is a material that has caught our interest on several levels. Its production, its technical properties and its aesthetics, which can be found in the work of artists, architects and engineers such as Hans Walter Müller in the 1970s. The know-how around the inflatable is impressive and at the same time full of simplicity: all the elements are imagined in a plan to create a three dimensional element. These objects are produced sustainably (with correctly sourced materials) and will be reused afterwards for an international workshop. It will absolutely be a "pop" object capable of creating a powerful environment, while drawing inspiration from various sources: the marine environment, objects of the wind, objects from the coastline, but also from the game universe or UFOs and extraterrestrial elements. Everyone can have a different reflection on its aesthetics. These elements exist through the addition of air, a freely available material, one of our main elementary elements.

C: How does collectible design translate to the built environment like scenography?

CD: This year, Collectible takes place in Tour & Taxis, an industrial building defined by its huge free space on the ground, strong materials and a steel structure on the ceiling. Using those elements to create a dialogue between the building and our scenography was our main interest. How to inhabit the space with a Paf gesture in order to make it Collectible. The idea is to mark the identity of Collectible in its space with strong objects. The simplicity of colour allows a sensitive expression of the hierarchy of elements. It is a grammar based mainly on the inflatable and the rope that leads to a family of interventions such as the fittings of the main entrance, support for the signage and elements to organise and signal the exhibitors' space, the flow of visitors and the logistics. The scenography accompanies the Collectible Fair and creates a setting.

About Paf atelier

Based in Paris, Paf Atelier is a creative studio specialised in architecture and scenography. Driven by experimentation and research in the fields of art, design and architecture, Christopher Dessus, Architect DE, scenographer, curator and director of the Pli association (magazine and workshop) created the atelier in 2017. The studio aims to question the conditions of architectural practice, from creation to production. Each project signed by the studio is a balanced search between knowledge and skill, theory and practice, in which design and production cannot be considered one without the other.