Having just been named Designer of the Year 2024, Pauline Capdo and Luis Bellenger, founders of the Belgian studio Paulineplusluis, talk about this award, as well as on some of the highlights of their young career and their future ambitions.
What does the Designer of the Year award mean to you?
Firstly, the satisfaction of having been chosen by a jury of professionals made up of contributors to Le Vif/Knack Weekend magazine, as well as Flanders DC, Design Nation, MAD Brussels, Design Museum Gent, CID Grand-Hornu and WBDM. It’s an encouragement to continue our collaborative work with brands and publishers, and to continue producing our own objects. The award also opens the door to a number of leading fairs and events: Design Nation which was held in Kortrijk in mid-October, and For the Now which took place at Tour & Taxis in November. In December, we are also among the four finalists (design category) for the Young Artists Award of the Parliament of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation which will be exhibiting at the CID Grand-Hornu as part of the Rencontre(s) exhibition.
You and Luis met at the Institut St-Luc Tournai during your design studies. Is that when you decided to set up your own studio?
It all happened very organically. From school onwards, our shared interest in reinterpreting objects and using existing materials as vectors for a new aesthetic led us to collaborate on a number of projects. We have subsequently exhibited together on two occasions, including once in 2015 as part of MAD. It was then that we were spotted by the artistic director of Habitat, who chose to produce one of our lamps: a trigger that led us to found our studio two years later and to make our collaboration official in a way.
Your first commercial success came soon after!
That same year, as part of an event organised by Belgium is Design, we were put in touch with Hartô, who decided to produce our Carmen lamp. This object was made available in only six months, which is rare in the design sector. And it’s still going strong today — proven by the fact that it’s now available as wall lamps.
Since 2017, you have often been one of the designers represented and supported by Belgium is Design. What can you tell us about this adventure?
We were lucky enough to take part three times in SalonSatellite, the Young Designers section of the Milan fair. As part of this opportunity we had coaching sessions that helped us prepare for potential meetings with brands, architects, editors, etc. In addition to these trips to Milan, we take part every year in the D2B events organised by Belgium is Design. These meetings between companies and designers brought us into contact with Hayche, a London-based producer for whom we designed the Dune chair in 2020. Through these meetings, we also started a collaboration with the French company Matière Grise, for whom we created Multitude, a collection of tubular lighting fixtures.
You also collaborated with the Belgian company Deknudt Mirrors on a project that fits in completely with your working philosophy?
In this case, we came up with the idea for this project while visiting their factories. For the Paint Collection, launched in 2022, the idea was to use a brush to paint a mirror on a sheet of glass to create a motif using a screen-printing technique; this process is at the crossroads of craft and industry and is unique to Deknudt Mirrors and our studio.
Centred on the idea of simplicity, your approach to design has become your trademark. Tell us about it!
It’s apparent on two levels: firstly, in the lighting and furniture we design. We work on the basis of everyday objects that we reinterpret. This narrative dimension, reinforced by the obviousness of the object, makes our creations easy to understand. And our design approach focuses on ingenious solutions aimed at production with the aim of economising and streamlining. What was originally dictated by a need to limit costs has become an approach in its own right.