Ecal is a design school located in Lausanne, Switzerland. The school actively invites external designers, photographers, artists, and film directors to give lectures, hold off-campus training sessions, and hold exhibitions and presentations of their work both in Switzerland and abroad. In Tokyo, an exhibition of work by students from the photography department of Ecal was held at the Ebisu Film Festival last year, which may still be fresh in your memory.

Ronan Bouroullec was invited to Ecal in March. He has collaborated with Erwan Bouroullec on product design, and has been involved in collaborations with various companies. Ronan Bouroullec is not only a designer, but also an ambitious creator of drawings, and has published and exhibited his drawings alone. To commemorate the traveling exhibition "DESSINS QUOTIDIENS" at Ecal, we interviewed Ronan, who has ties to Japan and was visiting Ecal.

- First, please tell us about the exhibition.

Drawing is very important to me because I feel a lot of joy when I draw. I like to draw without a goal. I usually draw from the middle of the paper, without any idea and goal. This is very different from my design approach, because when I design I usually work in a structured way. So I would say that drawing is very important for my health.

- The intricacy of the details in your drawings really comes across when you look at the original works, rather than just through printed books or posters.

When I look at the texture of the drawings, I feel that some of them have the kind of detail that can be created when carving wood with a carving knife.

- You also draw on glossy paper.

That's right. So I can draw quickly without stopping. I think it's very important to think about the surface and the points touching each other in drawing. The depth of the paper really changes the impression of the drawing.

- How many different sizes and formats are there?

It depends. In the beginning, I only drew in sketchbooks, but as time went on, I started to draw on larger papers. I was actually lucky, there was a printing studio in front of my studio, and a lot of great papers were being thrown away. In the beginning, I would pick up those papers and draw on them.

-Some of them were drawn with ballpoint pen.

Sometimes I draw with ballpoint pens, but I also use a lot of Japanese felt-tip pens, I really like the variety of colors they come in.

- Since you mentioned Japan, I have a question. As someone who has often worked with Japanese professionals, is there anything you feel you could not experience anywhere else?

Well, I've been in Japan for about 35 years now. I had my first exhibition in Japan in 1998. I don't know why, but I feel a strong connection with Japan and I'm happy to be able to go there and work there. I was lucky to have many different experiences in Japan. I've worked with lacquer artisans, with the design team at Issey Miyake, with ceramic artists, and with artisans and design teams from various fields. They have a sensitivity to textures and a lot of techniques that you can't find outside of Japan. As a designer, I'm very happy to have the opportunity to work with such people in Japan.

- The pencil drawings are separated by frames, which is very interesting.

I also like to make frames for all my drawings. The outer frame is made of very thin metal, and I create them with a structure where another frame fits inside. Recently, I have been making frames that look similar to the ones I've made before, but are actually different, by making thin cuts in the wood and changing the paint color at the cut edge.

- What is the relationship between product design and drawing, and how do the two influence each other?

Actually, I don't really know myself. I was blessed with the opportunity to do what I wanted to do. Luckily, I was already exhibiting at the age of 18 and I have no experience working for someone else. I love doing different things, but when I was a design student, it was a very difficult time. Because at that time, there was an atmosphere that designers were designers and artists were artists, and it was not allowed to jump into other genres. Nowadays, such jumps are accepted and you can balance different genres, such as drawing in the morning and working on product design in the afternoon. I feel very happy to do different things at the same time, and I no longer feel guilty about being interested in and working in different fields and having different perspectives.

- It was very encouraging to hear such opinions.

I feel like a lot of people should be like that.

Ronan Bouroullec is a French designer, known together with his brother Erwan Bouroullec as the "Bouroullec Brothers". The studio, which they founded in Paris in 1999, is active in a wide range of fields, including furniture, interior and product design, and has collaborated with international brands such as Vitra and Magis. Their designs are characterized by simple and elegant minimalism, the flexibility of modular systems and inspiration from nature. Their representative works include the plant-shaped "Algues", the mesh "Slow Chair" and the modular office system "Workbays". Recent projects include the public space design "Cercles" in Rennes and the furniture series "Ropero" for the Frida Kahlo Museum in Mexico City, which are highly acclaimed for their innovation and beauty adapted to modern lifestyles.

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Eriko Miyata