Designer duo dach&zephir sow creole seeds in Saint-Étienne

After Laureline Galliot and Guillaume Bloget, the Présent >< Futur cycle continues at the Cité du design with designer duo Florian Dach and Dimitri Zephir. From 20 September 2024 to 5 January 2025, their exhibition simé grenn (sowing seeds) will showcase their unique design practice, which plays out at the intersection between the worlds, real and imagined, and the cultures of the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. Relating other ways of occupying the world, it invites the visitor into indoor and outdoor spaces to highlight ways of life, forms of know-how, little stories that have been forgotten, neglected or erased.

dach&zephir, simé grenn

This designer duo’s creative approach is based on the Whole-World concept which follows the thinking of Martinique-born poet and philosopher Édouard Glissant. For them, our modern world must tell its story and be shared in accordance with the principles of the interpenetration of cultures, in a dynamic of fair exchange. The exhibition gives an insight into the thoughts and questions that have driven them ever since their 2015 Élòj kréyòl research project focused on the stories of the West Indies, for which they wanted to offer a contemporary, poetic reading which can be passed on to future generations. Willingly accepting the “participation of the Other” in the creative process, the projects they undertake give form to the words and stories of creole communities, whose voices are rarely heard and recognised. They are thus celebrating the urgent and necessary diversity of the World. Here, French design in the era of creolisation suggests the creation of a rich, shared narrative of knowledge and heritages. A design based on connections that produces more connections, embracing the diversity of cultural and creative histories that make up a France that is not limited to what we call the “Hexagon”, the mainland. The scenography is centred on a sort of imaginary house. It alternates interior and exterior points of view, where objects, items of furniture, texts, images, collages and videos depict and relate scenes from life. The corrugated sheet that defines the spaces evokes the traditional houses of the West Indies.

It is at the point where ourdifferences and our visionscome together that we foundedthe dach&zephir studio. But,above all, there is a common desireto build our own definition of whatthe profession is. We have a specialaffection for crafts and creativepractices that do not enjoy the samerecognition. The projects thatwe undertake deal with subjectswhere we think there is a need to bearwitness. They reflect a practiceand an approach that can onlybe conceived of with the presence of others.

dach&zephir, a free creative space and a quest to discover what makes history and identity

Florian Dach and Dimitri Zephir met at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Paris in 2012, when they were both still students on the object design course. They quickly came together to work on a joint project: La figure de l’Autre. This creative and research project questioned the influence of immigrant cultures in the creation of the French identity. It was dach&zephir’s final degree project, which they passed in 2016 with distinction.

They both work with craftspeople, factories and industrial manufacturers on creating a collection of objects celebrating a culturally diverse art of living. They see the duo they form as a free creative space. In it they pool their own lived experiences — their roots are in Paris and Guadeloupe — in a quest to discover what makes history and identity. Cultural heritages are addressed as a rich vein of raw material for design, capable of producing a language of forms, materials and uses that underlies artefacts. Engaged in a constant exploration of new territories, they define themselves as “researcher-authors”.