Sitting, lying, intertwined, posed, inverted... commandeering a public bench can conjure up some surprising images.
The unexpected shapes of Lucile Soufflet’s seats play with archetypes, inviting us to rethink our relationship with public spaces, context and others. The different interactions that they trigger among users, passers-by and the environment are at the heart of the designer’s approach. The image of her circular bench encompassing a tree sums up the way that context informs her projects. The fun structures that she developed for the Grand-Hornu remind us of the arches that intersperse its architecture. In the two buildings on the Peterbos estate in Anderlecht that she was involved with, the colours of the tiles adorning the walkways play with the palette generated by a pixellated photo of the view from upstairs.
While Lucile’s work really shines when focusing on objects that have a relationship with space and the diverse, broad public of urban communities and groups, she certainly doesn’t shy away from the meticulous, delicate, precise techniques involved in her studio pieces. Samples, models, fragments, sketches, photos and souvenirs come together on her workbench, like a pile of little bricks that she uses to build her project. Her ceramic and glass creations are even more personal, showcasing the areas of interest that have studded the career of this Belgian designer, who was born in Charleroi in 1975 and graduated from La Cambre ENSAV in 1996.
