Design
Camille Tan
Fluid sculptures and furniture
Camille Tan is a designer and sculptor working between functional objects and sculptural forms. His practice is deeply influenced by his relationship with climbing and nature. In our conversation with Camille we go through his exploration of balance, gravity, and natural forces.
How would you describe what you do?
Today I'm somewhere between design and sculpture. I spent ten years in contemporary art, but now I mainly make a living from design, even though the sculptural dimension remains essential. I create furniture, mobiles and hanging pieces. I started 15 years ago around the forces and balances of our environment. I've been passionate about climbing for almost twenty years: that relationship between body, rock, and balance directly influences my practice. I collect stones from the places where I climb, shaped by water, and they become the initial weight of my mobiles. In my furniture, the fluid, organic forms echo the action of water on rock or wood.
How did the idea for the project begin?
I was living in Rennes, where I studied at the Beaux-Arts. After ten years in contemporary art, I moved to Brussels with the goal of building my studio. I stopped producing for four years to renovate a space. And while building that interior, I rediscovered the pleasure of making, arranging, giving functionality to objects. Design came back naturally. Then the mobiles appeared later, almost as a kind of revenge on climbing: controlling the stone, whereas when climbing it's the stone that controls me.
Photography credits: Joerg Koziol.
Repose Archive is a creative direction journal documenting processes and projects across art, design, architecture, and hospitality.