GUILLAUME BARDET ‘HALTÈRE NO. 5’ STONEWARE

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Guillaume Bardet ‘Haltère No. 5’ stoneware, November 6, 2009

Guillaume Bardet’s 365 Ceramic Objects

A graduate of the renowned École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (ENSAD) in Paris, French designer Guillaume Bardet is celebrated for his endeavors of vast scope and scale. Immediately following his first major project, Le Mobilier Immobile, a series of nine monumental marble works, Bardet embarked on his L’usage des jours, a durational exploration of the design process—and the designer’s stamina.

From 21 September 2009 – 20 September 2010, Bardet designed—that is, drew and digitally modeled—one object per day, for a total of 365 objects designed over the course of one calendar year. The designs, in turn, were produced by 14 ceramicists from October 2010 to November 2011. “Neither a work journal, nor a work in progress,” Claude Eveno wrote, “but more of a narrative which plumbs the depths of one’s memory of forms, allowing them to settle and then decanting to arrive at a language beyond linguistics, but which describes symbolically, in silent literature, a novel of design.” This “parade-novel,” as Eveno would have it, began with a modest tea bowl and ultimately came to include a total of “55 lamps, 51 vases, 42 stools, 29 dishes and trays, 27 cups and diverse “receptacles”, 26 flowerpots, 24 decanters, 13 glasses, 11 mirrors, 9 table centre-pieces, 6 bowls and cups, 6 candlesticks, 4 teapots, 4 ashtrays, 1 salad bowl, 1 bottle, [and] 1 egg cup.”

Collectively, the entire body of work was subsequently featured in the exhibition L’usage des jours: 365 ceramic objects by Guillaume Bardet at Cité de la céramique in Sèvres, France, and travelled extensively, including to the Musée cantonal de design et d’arts appliqués contemporains (mudac) in Lausanne, Switzerland, and Grand-Hornu Images in Belgium.