Johan Destrumelle
Johan Destrumelle is a French designer and artist whose practice moves fluidly between art and design. Trained in product design, he developed his approach through studies and formative experiences with designer Céline Wright in Paris and the Icelandic studio And Anti Matter. These experiences nurtured his interest in experimentation, craftsmanship, and the expressive potential of objects.
Working independently, Destrumelle creates unique, handmade pieces that emphasize material exploration and artisanal know-how. Oscillating between functional design and sculptural expression, his work is driven by a commitment to quality over quantity, resulting in objects that celebrate individuality, process, and the value of making by hand.
Interview
Clamart (France), but I live in Oise.
My first memory related to art, I think it is the stained glass windows in the churches, which are incredibly well worked, colored, and play with light.
I studied product design, but I never “worked” in an artistic field.
I’ve always loved shoes, sneakers, and it’s basically this passion that brought me into the world of creation.
My creative process was influenced by pointillism. The effects of dots forming a single mass of color have always attracted me. My inspirations for the colors really come from everything I see in everyday life, from my tests to experiments.
I draw the structure and shape of the lamp. Once I like it, I come to draw it roughly on the computer in order to do color tests. Once the lamp is “imagined”, I come to create the foam volume and do the electrical wiring. Then, I create the concrete of the desired color, and I place it point by point on the structure.
I chose concrete because it is a material that is “simple” to use, accessible, and easy to work with by hand. I wanted to work with a material without necessarily having to use machines. In addition, concrete is a material that fits in time, perennial.
The particularity of my creations is that each point is deposited by hand; each piece is therefore truly unique. This is quite a long job, but it allows me to have a visual aspect that I find interesting.
Being a young artist myself, I don’t think I have the status or the experience to give sound advice. I just think you have to go after your ideas and not be afraid to fail.
As said before, I am inspired by the pointillism movement. So I try to give it a new dimension by transferring it to a volume.
I really like Ernesto Neto creating visual but also olfactory universes. The very controversial Anish Kapoor, for his insolence, risk-taking, even if I do not approve of everything he does.
Daniel Arsham, as well, is a contemporary, multidisciplinary artist, working on different objects, supports, but brings a certain poetry to these creations.
I appreciate the work of Virgil Abloh for his vision of objects and visuals. And as previously said, Daniel Arsham.
I don’t know if we can say inspire, but I love the work of Vasjen Katro (Baugasm), who is a graphic designer, with an ultra colorful universe, almost saturated, which I find very attractive.
Mountain of dots.
“You have to go after your ideas and not be afraid to fail.”
The Questions
(The Proust Questionnaire is a set of questions answered by the French writer Marcel Proust.
Other historical figures who have answered confession albums are Oscar Wilde,
Karl Marx, Arthur Conan Doyle, Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Cézanne…)
Freedom
Solitude
Procrastination
Selfishness
My parents
I do not know
Optimistic
I do not know
Sincerity
Sincerity
Grave
To be able to bake
More compassionate
My friendship
Place
In Santorini
My relatives
Isolation
Series/mangas
My optimism
Sincerity
Bernard Werber
James Bond
Gandhi
My parents
Georges, Yves
Foolishness
I do not have any
In my sleep
If you can, then do it
“Each point is deposited by hand; each piece is therefore truly unique.”
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