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Project for the Centre national des arts plastiques
(Cnap)
François
Bauchet, Robin Bourgeois, CPRV, Perron et Frères
September 9th
︎︎︎ September 26th, 2026
Almost a year ago,
we were contacted for a consulting assignment with the Centre national des arts
plastiques. The Centre national des arts plastiques, commonly known as the
Cnap, has been, since 1982, a collection of art, decorative arts and graphic
arts of more than 108,000 works, making it one of the three largest collections
of its kind in France, outside the Louvre. In 2019, a competition, won by the
agencies Bruther and Data, was launched to house the entire collection and all
of the staff in a former industrial site. The new premises open in September
2026.
Our assignment was
to propose office furniture for all the employees. Although interior fit-out is
not our primary trade, our background as designers, as a landscape architect
and as an artist, combined with our knowledge of the design field, allowed us to
carry out this assignment easily. Proposing furniture from catalogues is not a
complex task; it requires a detailed knowledge of the brands and a sound
analysis of the site's challenges and needs. Organizing exhibitions in a given
space is not very different. You have to give an artistic direction and manage
a space and a budget. In the case of the Cnap, it seemed more appropriate to
begin with an inventory of the existing furniture, with a view to reusing it.
It seemed more interesting to us to start from what already exists in order to
better understand the needs. It was after this inventory that we began looking
for the furniture needed to complement what we were keeping. But the idea
quickly took hold of putting the emphasis on designers and manufacturers
working in France, in keeping with the mission of the Cnap, which, beyond
building a collection representative of its era and its creators, is also to
defend a French ecosystem. While this idea may have seemed somewhat
protectionist for a long time, globalization and the weakening of the economy
have also forced us to rethink what our territory and its players are.
In March 2026, we
organized an exhibition titled Contemporains with the same idea. From an initial selection of some
fifty emerging designers linked to France, not necessarily French, but linked
to France, we exhibited about ten. This selection was an opportunity to meet
many creators and to see whether they could fit the Cnap's mission. But because
the Cnap is a large collection, in both senses of the word, representative of
an era and its diversity, we wanted to invite both a young generation and a
recognized figure, long established in its collection and in the French design
landscape. Our choice fell on François Bauchet. First, because he already has a long
career, but also because we had seen, among creators of all generations, that
he enjoys very high regard. We thus had a tutelary figure and a group from an
emerging generation. What better could one ask for than to bring together,
within a single commission, a group of creators from different generations? A
way of producing a not entirely incoherent image of French design in 2026.
Just like the
designers, the companies that manufacture had to be in France. Of course, this
is a small project and few of them are taking part, but it is gratifying to
think that what will exist could be managed among a few carefully selected
partners within one and the same geography. François Bauchet, then, but also Robin Bourgeois, CPRV and
Perron et Frères. Desks, library tables, coffee tables, low chairs,
coat racks and wastepaper baskets. That's all. But it's a good start.
Photos : © Yann Bohac / A1043
