Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec

Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, born in Brittany in 1971 and 1976 respectively, live and work in Paris. They are freelance designers with an aptitude for creating items that are both simple and intelligent. Their innovative minds allow them to bring to life mechanisms that encompass numerous possibilities. Among other things they have designed furniture and objects for Cappellini, Vitra, Habitat and Iittala. They came to the world's attention through a number of exhibitions and received the Grand Prix du Jury International at the Paris Furniture Fair in 1998, the Grand Prix du Design de la Ville de Paris, the Best New Designer Award New York (1999), and a "Compasso d'Oro" nomination for the Spring Chair (2001). Their pieces belong to the permanent collections at the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and their design for an Issey Miyake A-POC space opened in Paris in 2000. They have had their own exhibitions at the Miyake Design Studio! Gallery in Tokyo and Galerie Kreo in Paris in 2001, and also at the London Design Museum in 2002. This book is conceived as a journey by the Bouroullecs around their work and world. During this journey they meet people with whom they collaborate, such as Rolf Fehlbaum (chairman of Vitra) and Giulio Cappellini (chairman of Cappellini), and who talk about the experience of working with them. They also visit places where they have realized products or exhibitions. Along the way the brothers present many realized and unrealized projects illustrated with drawings, sketches, models and photographs, most of them never published, that show the complex process of development behind each one. The images are accompanied by texts by the brothers that explain the history of the commission, the realization and, in some cases, the failure. This book, conceived, written and designed by the Bouroullec brothers, is the first in which they explain and present their work in detail.