Altin Studio is founded by Yasmine, an interior designer trained at the École Nationale Supérieur des Arts Décoratifs de Paris (ENSAD) and Mehdi, a civil engineer graduated from the Université de Bretagne Sud in Lorient (UBS). The couple draws its inspiration from Tunisian craft traditions, which reflect the cultural diversity and know-how that have enriched the country throughout its history. Some techniques date back to the Neolithic period and represent a collective, ancestral knowledge shared by all peoples: they seem to constitute the very essence of what makes us human. Their entire approach consists in invoking this link, which speaks of the relationship that man has maintained with living things and nature for millennia. Their creative vision embodies this in an organic minimalism in which the material, its qualities as much as its imperfections, are given pride of place.

It was through the development of a family business handed down by Yasmine’s father: tinja, that they laid the foundations for a commitment to craftsmen and creating a collaborative operating system with them. Throughout Tunisia, they collaborate with a network of specialized artisans who act as satellites in their respective regions. At the heart of this network is their workshop, where all experiments and designs are centralized. In 2023, these years of expertise enabled them to take things a step further by creating Altin, their new project for creating and publishing contemporary handcrafted pieces. In addition to continuing their support for traditions that often struggle to survive, this is an opportunity for them to further assert their creativity and bring to life more ambitious pieces in both design and aesthetic.

1. Where were you born and where are you from ?

Yasmine: In La Marsa, Tunisia. I spent my early years at the foot of the Byrsa hill, where the mythical city of Carthage was founded.

Mehdi: In Bizerte, Tunisia.

2. What is your first memory connected to the art world ?

Yasmine: The ruins of Carthage are an integral part of the city. I’ve always been inspired by these resurfacing traces of the past in everyday life. These remains must certainly have influenced my relationship with art. My aesthete parents added bridges with modern artists.

3. Have you always worked in the art/design field ?

Yasmine: Yes. It’s not just a job, but a way of externalizing ideas and intuitions and trying to make them intelligible, first and foremost to myself.

Mehdi: No. My background is in civil engineering with 7 years spent managing mega-construction projects in Paris, France.

4. What led you to the design creation ?

Yasmine: After a professional experience in interior design, I found that designing pieces gave me a scale that allowed me to see my ideas come to life more immediately and more closely.

Mehdi: Yasmine was already working in object design when I met her. At the time, I was going through a period when I was reconsidering my career plans. I helped her with her project and we’ve been working on it together ever since.

5. How would you describe your creative process and it influences ?

Yasmine: My process is about encounters in all their possible forms and the echo they can generate in me. It also contains elements of silence and time.

Mehdi: How to put materials in resonance? How to make them dialogue in a principle of assembly? This is the matrix of my creative reflection. The final form is only the tangible manifestation of this constructive logic.

6. Could you describe a typical day of your work ?

Our days are rarely the same and are often hectic. On a daily basis, we manage our workshop with our finishing craftsmen, the fifteen or so satellite craftsmen in the different regions of the country, our showroom and the day-to-day running of the company. 

When we embark on a new creative project, we tend to isolate ourselves from this daily routine in order to mature our ideas and come back with action plans for ourselves and the team.

7. Why did you choose the specific materials you work with ?

We work with four “elementary” materials: sea rush, wood, metal and clay. Each of them has unique qualities and a distinct way of shaping our ‘Altin’ project. Our project involves rediscovering Mediterranean traditions, which is how we came to discover these local resources used by the craftsmen we’ve been collaborating with for years.

8. What are the technical particularities of your creations ?

Our approach is to avoid using machines as much as possible. All our pieces are made by hand using simple hand tools. We often use low-tech tools for some of our creations.  This approach reflects the idea that the more direct the gesture on the material, the more visible the craftsman’s imprint and the more perceptible the emotion.

9. What advices could you give to beginning artists who would like to create sculptural design works ?

Find that something you’re passionate about or have an innate attraction to. Devote as much time as possible to it and repeat the process as often as possible. Think of this experience as a journey, pay attention along the way. Things are bound to come up that will help you progress. A ‘mistake’ can turn into a happy event, a small detail can become a key principle.

10. If your works had to belong to a design movement, in which one would you define it ?

The shapes we give them are as simple and uncluttered as possible. They focus more on the intrinsic characteristics of the materials and the balance of associations (hard/soft, cold/hot, reflective/absorbent, etc.). 

Our creations speak the language of an “organic minimalism” rooted in the innate and unbroken link between the material and the piece we create, allowing us to forge a deep connection with nature through our work.

11. What designers and artists have influenced you ?

Isamu Noguchi, the artisans of the Ming dynasty, Charlotte Perriand, Jean Prouvé, Georges Nakashima.

12. What contemporary designers do you appreciate ?

We love the works of Theodore Psychoyos and Marlène Huissoud and Lionel Jadot.

13. What contemporary artists (in any kind of art) have you been inspired by ?

Oliver Beer and his project: The cave completely fascinated us.

14. If you had to summarize your creations in one word or sentence, what would it be ?

The embodiment in the Present of a dialogue between fragments of the past and visions of a dreamed future.

PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE
(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…)

11. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

–

12. Which talent would you most like to have?

To stop the time.

13. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Nothing, I’m grateful for what I have.

14. What do you consider your greatest achievement?

My son.

15. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?

I prefer to live what I have to live and then… stardust.

16. Where would you most like to live?

Far away from the madness of mankind. Closer to those who organize living together in harmony.

17. What is your most treasured possession?

My family.

18. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

The real miseries of this world: contempt for others and self-satisfaction.

19. What is your favorite occupation?

Doing nothing.

20. What is your most marked characteristic?

How can I know?

21. What do you most value in your friends?

Their heart and their humour.

22. Who are your favorite writers?

I don’t really have a favourite, but I’ve had some memorable encounters. The latest: Anima by Wajdi Mouahad and The Language of Birds by Farid Uddin Attar.

23. Who is your hero of fiction?

Nausicäa.

24. Which historical figure do you most identify with?

Elyssa.

25. Who are your heroes in real life?

Those who spontaneously and individually compensate for and repair the systemic injustices of this world.

26. What are your favorite names?

Nour and Orhan.

27. What is it that you most dislike?

Cruelty.

28. What is your greatest regret?

That I lacked courage at certain times in my life.

29. How would you like to die?

Happy, surrounded.

30. What is your motto?

‘El elmou Nour’, knowledge is light.