REFLECTION BY MICHAËL CHENEAU 3/4

07/07/20

3/4 Nature & aesthetics

If all tastes are in nature, aesthetics is in culture. The form of an object must perfectly match its function, from which aesthetics is born.

I have always called on designers to define the aesthetic line of the hundred or so objects already created on my initiative. It is not a question of giving way to the romantic eccentricities of a disheveled artist. An industrial tool is beautiful in the eyes of the worker who uses it when its form naturally adapts to its function. Why should two products of innovation, a tool or a piece of furniture, not achieve aesthetics by meeting the same requirement? If today smartphones are appreciated first and foremost for their design, it is because they have managed to become a natural extension of our bodies to such an extent that everyone has already experimented with making a specific digital tactile gesture on an inert surface.

Aesthetics here is not a matter of taste but of understanding the function and the techniques to be used to achieve a use that becomes like an extension of the body. Aesthetics can be observed and the taste of each person does not alter the quality of use of the object. Creating aesthetics therefore consists in creating an adequacy and harmony between humans, objects and the natural world that surrounds them. This is the designer's job.

A design enthusiast is not a designer, just as an aerospace enthusiast is not an astronaut. It's not about elitism but about competence. Being a designer is learned and practiced on a daily basis by being confronted with industrial and craft issues, by mastering and continually deepening the knowledge of forms and materials at the technological and artistic levels. It is by equally involving craftsmen and designers that Breton know-how can spread in France and abroad. It is thanks to this work with designers that the creations of the MICA Gallery and the LAB association have the shoulders to compete on the international contemporary design scene at major events. The selections and competition are tough but my method works: our stand won the Special Jury Prize at the PAD Paris (Art + Design) 2019. I have made design and aesthetics my profession and the driving force behind a viable company with essential values for regional dynamism, the awards I have received are proof of this. All of this reflects economically and culturally on Breton know-how.

So, do you still think that aesthetics are superficial?