LABAYE • SUMI

Based on thorough research about materials, colors and an experimental approach of the space and the objects which compose it; here is how could be characterized the guideline of the creative studio developed by the architect and colorist AGATHE LABAYE and the visual artist and designer FLORIAN SUMI.

Together, they focus their work on the knowledge and the valorisation of techniques, whether they are artisanal or industrial, and this, from the architectural scale to that of the object. To do so, they integrate a research and development department to their office.

Since 2018, date of their first collaboration, the duo does not claim an aesthetic, convinced that the architect is the craftsman of scales and passionate about a multitude of languages and eras due to their distinct environments – art and architecture, each project allows them to open a stylistic subject and a modus operandi of its own.

Although inspired by the notion of decor, they prefer the precision of detail to the spectacular, and are attached to the notion of permanence.

It is thanks to their past collaborations, notably with Pierre Bonnefille, French Master of Art of color and texture, the artist Françoise Schein, the Belgian designer Xavier Lust or the architects Abinal & Ropars for Agathe; and, the British artist Marc-Camille Chaimowicz, and Xavier Veilhan for Florian that the duo deploys this cross-disciplinary vision of their practice.

The expanding studio already has numerous projects to its credit. These include the interior refurbishment of the Hôtel de Pourtales, the creation of the Statement jewelry store, the third place of a Parisian association and private residential projects.

In addition, since they believe that “furniture makes the Architecture”, they have developed various collections of furniture such as Le Salon, Pourtales Collection and AO exhibited by Charles Burnand Gallery in London.