THIERRY JEANNOT
Thierry Jeannot and his ‘Transmutation 1 chandelier’, 2011. Photo credit: Felix Friedmann Fotography
ABOUT
The ALCHEMIST and PLASTIC MASTER craftsman presents up-cycling at its best and demonstrates how waste can transform into pure luxury -
WASTE IS LUXURY
Thierry Jeannot (b. 1963) is a French-born designer living in Mexico for the last 20 years. Working across product design, furniture and social design, his focus generates high added value to recycled materials through design. He is interested in traditional techniques and materials and has worked closely with crafts-people both in Paris (back in the 80ies with fashion guru Thierry Mugler) and later with the workshops he discovered in Mexico City. He follows a design philosophy where design and the production process are never separated. In the 1980s he began working with a range of unconventional or ‘outlandish’ materials, like for example acrylics and plastics. For the last 20 years he has been working mainly with the PET bottle as his raw-material. He explores various techniques of using the bottle and to transform its materiality and status to favourable acclaim both in Mexico and The United States. He is also developing home based employment for disadvantaged communities in Mexico City such as women, unemployed, disabled, HIV sufferers et al. More on the social aspects of Thierry’s work see below.
“The beginning of my work with the ‘Transmutation 1’ and ‘Green Transmutation’ Chandeliers are the result of a long process of investigation and experimentation with materials, in this case, transparent urban waste (PET bottles) and also the process and my relationship with the disadvantaged people within Mexico City (the social part).”
“I orient my work towards researching new ways of constructing and designing. What we call re-purposing and recycling came to me as new possibilities and I definitely wanted to use them in a new way as one uses any other conventional technique. I observed PET bottles containing liquids, nicely organized in a store, and then those same transparent containers discarded on the floor or accumulated in the trash right in front of my studio in the old downtown of Mexico City. My first decision was to use them as if they were crystal and transform them into an iconic lighting design: a chandelier. By involving people from my neighbourhood, the question of supply was naturally resolved, recycling those bottles just before the trash process and being able to do the strong selection I needed. This was my experience when designing Transmutation 1 and Green Transmutation in which I question symbols of luxury as well as the preconception and value of materials.
GREEN TRANSMUTATION
“At the same period, I was observing and analysing the strong aesthetic enlightenments and patterns from Baroque and other periods. This was the initial statement of those pieces: to achieve a true transformation of those specimen of plastics into a luxury symbol, a classic Chandelier and reach a strong effect on the public eye in the sense of ‘what you see is not what you get’. Its an art-design piece about Illusion (there is a story of a women in Washington who thought the chandelier was part of the old mansion where my exhibition was - the story is mentioned in the Four Seasons magazine article). My work also talks about the subjectivity we have towards the value of materials.”
DETAIL of MORNING STAR COFFEE TABLE
“For MORNING STAR, my coffee table project, I wanted to work with accumulations, re-purposed materials and ornamental elements that I had already employed when working on my chandeliers. One of the techniques I employ is fire and heat applied to plastic parts in order to increase the “crystal” effect. The inclusion of bronze confronts the traditional way of casting metals with all my experiments with melted, heated, dyed and deformed recycled plastics. Once again using fire, I burned metals and wood and then covered them with silver and gold leaf. I decided to maintain a strong connection to history and the decorative arts but also wanted to question luxury and classicism and create a paradox in the way I use materials.” [Cit, from an artist interview in 2014].”
STAR TRANSMUTATION CHANDELIERS COLLECTION
WATCH THIS VIDEO ABOUT THE PROCESS OF THIERRY’S WORK IN MEXICO CITY
THE SOCIAL PROJECT:
NOSOTROS RECYCLAMOS - WE RECYCLE
Transforming plastic waste and HUMAN lives
This is Thierry’s group of trash pickers. He has been teaching and incorporating a group of 8-10 people in his production process over the past 4 years. The group works regularly with Thierry, which has transformed their lives.
People with hardly any future are now proud creators and see their work being shown in major museums worldwide.
These trash pickers gradually learned how to transform refuse into designed objects, and understand beauty beyond instinct.
Jeannot taught the group how to make wearable, sellable jewelry, took them to museums and led discussions on beauty and aesthetics. When the commission for the chandelier came through [Sagmeister & Walsh’s BEAUTY blockbuster exhibition], the wish and need to include them as a visual part of the installation was clear:
A film was made following the trash pickers as they create - this provides dimension
and essential context that tells the greater story.
THE TEAM of WASTE COLLECTORS & COLLABORATORS:
In Mexico, THE waste collectors are called ‘PEPENADORES’.
The members of the group are working hard to better their lives. They live precariously in community shelters, lean-tos off the street, parks, and a few of them in cheap apartments.
Miguel Angel Valencia Mendoza
Miguel Angel, 57, is a recovering alcoholic currently living in a shelter located outside the downtown area. He has a strong interest in culture and the arts.Silvia Hernandez Bautista
Sylvia, 64, searches the downtown area for sellable garbage every night between 6 pm and 2 am. Well-known in the neighbourhood, she lived in a park for 13 years, but now sleeps in the building where she keeps a storage space for her haul.Ignacio Aguilar Gonzalez
Ignacio, 57, is currently living on the street. He turned to drugs and alcohol to manage his chronic pain but is now working toward recovery from his addictions.Reyna Merida Granada
Reyna, 44, had addiction problems that dictated her life for a decade. Now drug-free, she lives with her two teenaged daughters in a small apartment. She would like to be a teacher one day and is the group peacemaker.Alicia Lizardi Cabrera
Alicia, 54, was kicked out of her home and found herself on the street at a young age, surviving as she could. She considers the group to be her family now. She is amazed to be part of a project that will be seen by the public.Jose Luis Rivera Martinez
Jose Luis, 38, lives in a warehouse. After 12 years in and out of jail for a non-violent crime, he is hoping to reconnect with his teenage son. He also hopes to keep learning and improving his life.Lilia Hernandez Jacinto
Lilia, 43, lived on the streets for 11 years. She’s been drug-free for four years now and lives in a small apartment with her partner. She loves to make the group laugh and is very proud to be working on a piece that will be shown in a museum.
THIERRY and his proud group of creative collaborators.
EXHIBITIONS:
ZONA MACO, Mexico City Art Fair, Marion Friedmann Gallery booth, Feb 2024
ZONA MACO, Mexico City Art Fair, Marion Friedmann Gallery booth, Feb 2023
INÊDITO, group show by Design Week Mexico, Oct 2022 - Feb 2023
INÉDITO, group show by Design Week Mexico, Mexico City, Oct 2021 - Feb 2022
ESTE ARTE, URUGUAY, online group show, with Marion Friedmann Gallery, Jan 2021
DESIGN HOUSE, group show by Design Week Mexico, Mexico City, Oct 2020
DESIGN HOUSE, group show by Design Week Mexico, Mexico City, Oct 2019
‘THE BEAUTY SHOW’ by Stefan Sagmeister & Stephanie Walsh, Museum of Applied Arts, Frankfurt, May-September-2019
'NEO BAROCO', museum exhibition at Museum Franz Maier, Mexico City, February-April, 2019
‘THE BEAUTY SHOW’ by Stefan Sagmeister & Stephanie Walsh, MAK, Vienna, Oct-2018 - April 2019
‘MEXICO DESIGN TIME”, group show, Marion Friedmann Gallery, 192 Piccadilly, London, September, 2018
‘VIA - Sustainability in Design, Paris, September 2018
'DELICACY REVISITED', with Marion Friedmann Gallery, London Design Festival, October 2015
'DELICACY', MIART, Milan Art Fair, Marion Friedmann Gallery, April 2015
‘NEW TERRITORIES’ at MAD (Museum of Art and Design), New York, Nov. 2014 , then travelling: Albuquerque (USA), Puebla (MX)
ABIERTO Diseno Mexicano - GROUP SHOW, Design Festival Mexico City, October 2014
ABIERTO Diseno Mexicano - Marion Friedmann Gallery, Design Festival Mexico City, October 2013
‘RECOLLECTIONS’, Marion Friedmann Gallery, Designjunction, London Design Festival, Sept. 2012
PINTA LATIN AMERICAN ART FAIR, Design section, Marion Friedmann Gallery, London, June 2012
‘Design for a Sustainable Future’, curated by Sustinendi, Marion Friedmann Gallery, Clerkenwell Design Week, London, May 2012
MEXICO WEEK UK, Marion Friedmann Gallery, March 2012
SUPERDESIGN, curated by Patrick Brillet, group-showcase during FRIEZE Art Fair, Marion Friedmann Gallery, London, Oct. 2011
‘ENLIGHTENED WASTE’, Marion Friedmann Gallery, London Design Festival, Sept. 2011
‘RETHINKING TRADITION - Contemporary Design from Mexico’, Washington D.C., Mexican Cultural Institute, curated by Ana Elena Mallet