The Art of “Art de Vivre”

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Jean-Marie Massaud’s subversive take on French opulence

By Véronique Vienne

Posted May 18, 2007

Jean-Marie Massaud’s subversive take on French opulence By Véronique Vienne

Posted May 18, 2007

If you’re a French designer today, chances are you loathe the expression art de vivre. If a critic were to use it to describe your work, you’d be insulted—stigmatized as someone whose creativity is hindered by tradition. And yet try as I might, I cannot avoid the dreaded term when it comes to Jean-Marie Massaud, recipient of the Cré*ateur de l’Année of the 2007 Paris Salon du Meuble. Massaud’s main concern is to propose a new art de vivre, which he calls scenario de vie (“lifestyle script”) to distance himself from this burdened phrase.

“As far as I am concerned, the role of a designer is not to design objects but to propose life-enhancing strategies,” the 40-year-old Massaud says. “I was raised to be an engineer. I was fascinated by new technologies. But I never wanted to use technology to design what would be, in the end, nothing but complex ‘prostheses.’ I consider my job as being at the service of progress—yes—but the progress of our way of life.” (...)

Fonte: Metropolismag