Bahukamamen
François Bauchet, Richard Hutten, Rei Kawakubo, Martin Margiela, Alessandro Mendini
October 18th
︎︎︎ November 30th, 2024
You won’t hear Bahukamamen! in many places. Not on social networks, not in the press, not at dinner parties in town and not even in good schools. Bahukamamen! is an expression used commonly but secretly in a very select circle of designers bound by an unspoken convention. Bahukamamen! is to design a bit like what umami is to cuisine. Something we may talk about but without knowing what it really means especially without having experienced it. If by any chance you have heard the word Bahukamamen! it means that you have crossed a threshold into the intricacies of the design world. So, what does this expression really mean?
There is colour in Bahukamamen! Not just any colour, not tinted greys but almost. The colours we're talking about are not pure, they're always just a little bit different. The colours may be flamboyant, but there's always something else. They may be off, dirty or textured. They are never quite what they seem at first glance. Black at a distance, and then up close, well no, it's rich brown. As far as shapes are concerned, they are solid yet extremely delicate. Rich and generous in appearance, but they are even more so than they appear. It's not unusual for an object to reveal a story or a moment embodied in a compact form with a strong presence. Some of them could almost be called monuments. The objects produced are not just functional. They tell stories, but they also know how to create them. While their functional qualities are not immediately obvious, each object has a very strong link to its use. So, it's not unusual to find at the origin of an object a response, an interpretation of a very specific gesture or habit.
Bahukamamen! is also characterised by its questioning of the home as an area of investigation. In Bahukammen! everything is there, and at the same time, there is nothing left. So, everything begins from a simple, a priori obvious fact. But it's not just about furnishing, it's also about studying use and, above all, design. Solutions for living do not come from design, but from thinking about how the home is used. In a way, Bahukamamen! is about studying the context, the users, their needs and their limits. But rather than inventing forms, we seek to understand the uses, and even to combine them, to sit/meet, sit/relax to create new typologies. The means used to achieve this are extremely modest. It's also a way of staying ahead of any inventions, so as not to confuse the interpretation of use. Ultimately, what is astonishing is how Bahukamamen! reinvents design without doing design, or to put it another way, by doing ‘no-design.’
With Bahukamamen! there is no question of working on comfort, production methods or the use of materials, which are the key areas of research for designers. Bahukamamen! furniture is a type of furniture that is used in transit areas and creates an image, an atmosphere. It is furniture that is not necessarily used, but whose main function is to bring a form and a type of material into an environment. While the materials used are classic, mainly wood and metal, the way they are treated is significant. The wood may be natural but sanded and unvarnished, the metal sandblasted and then galvanised, and the aluminium bonded to the wood. The end result is an original approach, a departure from convention and free of the usual poetic flourishes. Bahukamamen! furniture combines function and image. It is furniture with an urban, almost brutal aesthetic that demands a sensitive, even intellectual approach from its users.
Bahukamen! is also inspired by the ephemeral spaces created for fashion shows, exhibitions and boutiques. Furniture is created to meet specific needs and to design an entire space. Tables, armchairs, clothes racks and lamps, in particular, are made with a coherent artistic approach and a strong sense of décor. Bahukamamen! also means whiter than white. There are no frills here because there are no resources. We make do with what we have. We don't suffer because we use the economy of means as a creative stepping stone. Constraints become advantages.
Bahukamen! is surprising, as you can imagine. With its roots in the dark and violent years of the Red Brigades, we talk about it because it is simultaneously colourful and lively, zigzagging and full of curves, but also grey, monolithic and rectilinear. Equally, it's verbose, not stingy with its words, always coming up with new ones. So much so, in fact, that there are times when it would be better to remain silent, such is the inequality. Incredibly creative, you must accept that there are times when it's less interesting. But even when it's less interesting, it becomes interesting. The questions have shifted. What do we do about large-scale production? What about mass consumption? Is it only artisans who have unique skills? Yes, there are light years between the rigour and the initial demands, but above all we need to focus on the super-activity, and over-reactivity? There are so many things to say that words fail us. In any case, Bahukamamen! comes when you least expect it. A bit like love, but not quite. Bahukamamen! could be summed up as follows: Damn, that's good! Will you hear it? Not for sure... but ask us and we'll tell you.
