The VIA launches a major research project regarding the future of French Design.
Society is in flux, torn between a past and future in this present where new technologies and socio-cultural changes are redefining who we are, what we want to be, and incontestably, how we envision the environment in which we live. Aligned with these major contemporary issues, VIA is headlining a vast spatial design project to imagine the art of living 40 years from now.
Tagged 2059, French Design, this major research project calls upon the best thinkers of our time to elaborate a prospective multidisciplinary study whose stated goal is to more clearly elucidate the great changes brought about by the third industrial revolution, the new means so devised and the potential promised.
Deliberations underway since 2017 led to the elaboration of three key ideas for this project, in order to better embrace the art of living together. These three major axes include the 10 values of French Design as defined by 40 French and foreign personalities (designers, philosophers, artists, journalists, gallery owners, photographers...) on the fringes of Jean-Charles de Castelbajac’s creation NO TASTE FOR BAD TASTE.
Time
Evoking the transitory, the dialogue between yesterday and today that now propels us to rethink French Design, even while conserving its core values of life as art, heritage, savoir faire, elegance and a luxurious touch.
Space
The spatial link between private and public spaces, enjoining new tribes dissociated from the notion of social class. Bridging the gap between physical and virtual places, this notion reinforces the import of cultural openness, creativity and industry, while striking a balance between diverse universes.
Emotion
The last of the three essential ideas, emotional connection echoes the desired re-enchantment of spaces. In this troubled era, the everyday needs magical spaces that unify through a shared sense of belonging, quest for meaning and desire to live better, evoking the values of panache, audacity and sustainable innovation.
Themes
"The future is writ large in the present," declares sociologist Michel Maffesoli. This phrase quoted in the synthesis of 2059, French Design inspires a renewal in harmony with time and action. This spirit runs through the various themes that define the ideation of tomorrow's design.
The Maison refuge, a dream space, a refuge of memory, a place of resistance recalling the era of reconstituted families. The brands impelling disruptions of styles; the aspiration to create a desirable future and French exceptionalism; artificial intelligence and poetry; tribes and nomadism, a new way of life; the search for a better way of living; wandering, traveling and sharing.
A way of the future emerges for French Design paved today by VIA.
The VIA incubator also fosters the development of innovative designer and publisher/manufacturer pairings created during Speed Dating and accompanies them with the aim of bringing their projects to market. Each year, these professional gatherings generate more than 1,500 meetings.
The VIA (Valorization of Innovation in Furnishing) association, created in 1979 by CODIFAB and the Ministry of Industry, aims to develop and promote creation and innovation in the furnishing, decoration and design of private and urban spaces, both in France and abroad.
By Isabelle Laramée
Translation James Rae