Patrick Jouin
A graduate of the École Nationale de Création Industrielle (ENSCI), designer Patrick Jouin founded his agency in the 11th arrondissement in Paris in 1998. From year to year and project to project — interiors, product and furniture, exhibitions, and architecture — the agency has grown in recognition on the international stage. Jouin stands out through his elegant, clean style designed to serve the project: the quest for balance between tradition and innovation leads to luminous, enchanted designs.
Jouin experiments working with designers of all horizons. His life-changing meeting with French chef Alain Ducasse is behind restaurants known for being “the most beautiful in the world” including the Plaza Athénée (Paris), the 59 Poincaré (Paris), the Chlösterli-Spoon (Gstaad), the Spoon Byblos (Saint Tropez) and the Mix (Las Vegas). In addition, Cassina, Alessi, Kartell, and Ligne Roset produce his furniture.
Taste and close attention to technique is one of the permanent characteristics of Jouin’s designs. Materials – plastics, crystal, porcelain, aluminum, and wood – undergo the most astonishing transformations in his hands.He enjoys the transformations that techniques can bring about in an object’s very structure. In 2005, the series of chairs in stereolithography, Solid, revolutionized the design world.
Jouin is also hailed for his ability to keep the functionality of an object together with the design of a space – its line and beauty – an alliance that ensures long-term protection for his production. Take the elegance of the Pastatoti saucepan in collaboration with Ducasse for Alessi, or the lightweight material of the chair Solid, or the fairytale fittings for the historic salons of Van Cleef and Arpels.
His ongoing projects continue to challenge and sharpen his design skills, taking him into design territories he has not yet entered, such as his re-design of the newest restaurant in the Eiffel Tower – 58 Tour Eiffel (having completed Jules Verne), an exhibition design for the Photoquai Biennial at the Musée Quai du Branly, and designing an electronic musical instrument, or a design showroom for Silvera.
