Philia & Kids
Philia & Kids is the gallery's philanthropic arm. The not-for-profit initiative collaborates with international designers to inspire, connect, and engage children worldwide with design — from reflection to conception and creation.
♡ Not-for-profit initiative — All proceeds are reinvested in the project
Design Brut
The inaugural edition Design Brut | Philia & Kids unveiled new furniture designs imagined by children from Breil-sur-Roya primary school in France.
In this founding edition of the Philia & Kids programme, children from the primary school of Breil-sur-Roya, a small village in the French Alps were invited to conceive and imagine new furniture designs from the ground up. Guided by international designers, the young participants moved through the full arc of the creative process: from initial reflection and conceptual sketching to the physical realisation of their ideas. The resulting works blur the line between collectible design and the untamed imagination of childhood, celebrating what happens when adult craft expertise meets unfiltered creative instinct.
"What does design look like when children are not students of the process, but its true authors?"
Chantiers Partagés
PHILIA organized the Chantiers Partagés (shared workshops) project with the Société du Grand Paris and Le CENTQUATRE-PARIS.
PHILIA donated the bench they co-created to the children's school. It is now shown permanently on site.
The idea behind the project was to invite the designer Frédéric Saulou to work with a regional stone excavated from the new train worksites and create collectible design works in collaboration with local children of Palaiseau.
Brazil
The third edition of Philia & Kids extends the programme’s commitment to collaborative creation, bringing together designers and children to explore design as a shared language rooted in environment, material, and imagination.
Developed in Petrópolis, in the Rio de Janeiro region, this new chapter invites children to engage directly with their surroundings, using design as a way to observe, interpret, and transform the natural world. In collaboration with Brazilian designer Gisela Simas, and supported by local partners, the participants were guided through a series of workshops over several months, moving from observation to drawing, and from drawing to form.
The resulting pieces were first exhibited in Petrópolis, before being presented in São Paulo, and later at MAC Niterói in Rio de Janeiro.
Working with reclaimed wood collected from fallen trees at the COMDEP green waste centre, the children conceived their own sculptural furniture pieces, inspired by the organic structures and rhythms of the surrounding landscape. Visits to Marambaia Farm further deepened this relationship to nature, offering a direct encounter with forms, textures, and growth patterns that informed their proposals.
As in previous editions, the project curated by Ygaël Attali unfolds as a dialogue between intuitive creation and material realisation, where the children are not simply introduced to design, but become its authors.
Beyond this edition, the programme lays the foundation for a long term initiative: the creation of a design school rooted in transmission, material knowledge, and local ecosystems. Conceived as a space where younger generations can continue to learn, experiment, and build, this future structure aims to extend the impact of Philia & Kids beyond workshops, establishing a lasting platform for education and creative autonomy.
Bring Philia & Kids
to your school
We welcome proposals from schools, cultural institutions, and municipalities interested in co-designing a Philia & Kids edition. All projects are tailored to local context, materials, and communities.
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