Jouin's bar at the Plaza Athénée in Paris
When I strolled into Paris’ Centre Pompidou to walk through Patrick Jouin’s exhibition with the talented designer, I had no idea what to expect. The slim, handsome man was standing with a group of professionals, his dapper clothes contrasting the motorcycle helmet casually slung over his forearm. This pretty much summed up the paradox I would find throughout the exhibition, Patrick Jouin: La Substance du Design.
The expansive exhibit resembled a dynamic design studio, the floor to ceiling grids of details including sketches, computer drawings, and shadow boxes filled with prototypes and tiny models of products and projects. The array of ideas illustrated a lively imagination with an exhaustive flair for specificity. “I see design as a mix of poetics and technology,” Jouin remarked. “The devil is in every project and the trick is to find where he is hiding so we can make him pop out!”
It took the designer six months to curate the exhibition, which he says was an honor. He’s inspired by all periods of design—saying it is truly impossible to isolate any one influential age. “I am inspired by so many different things and I never know when an idea will come,” he explained, pointing to one of numerous sketchbooks tucked into a backlit niche. “I fill these routinely with sketches that are then refined and presented to clients.” When I asked him whether he always has a sketchpad with him, the designer remarked, “Yes, there is one in a compartment of my motorbike now!”
Jouin loves to collaborate with clients but he’s very specific about the way he works with such avant-garde manufacturers as Alessi, MGX by Materialise, Cassina, and Kartell. “I only present each client with one option when the design process is complete,” he said. “Design is a choice and, though the client is involved in the process, there is a clear decision to be made in the end.”
Last year, the designer completed the interiors of the Le Jules Verne restaurant at the Eiffel Tower. He has also designed the Gilt Bar and Restaurant at the New York Palace Hotel; the Restaurant et Horloge, an Alain Ducasse restaurant and the bar at the Plaza Athénée in Paris; and has designed Item, a new sofa system for Bernhardt Design. Of particular excitement for Jouin is The Swatch Art Peace Hotel he’s designed in Shanghai, China, for the Swatch Group. Mark my words: this visionary’s star is definitely on the rise!
Visit my travel/design blog, Roaming by Design this week, as I'm featuring a slew of dishy design posts from the city's chicest arrondissements. First up, Remy Lemoine, whose passementerie d'art in collaboration with straw marqueterie artisan Lison de Cuanes was a Parisian treat. If you're itching to know why Miami-based design guru Oscar Glottman sees Jouin as a visionary, visit the Design Commotion Boutique. I'm featuring some of my favorite Jouin products in the slideshow below...
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