Laure Jaffuel

Born and raised on the Mediterranean sea coast in the South of France, Laure Jaffuel (1987) is a French independent designer and art director based in Αthens.

Interested in the context where her work finds itself, she emphasizes on the design and the construction of situations surrounding her objects. She has a multilayered practice producing spaces, objects, events, situations, sound pieces, parties, scenographies or publications where diverse disciplines merge to celebrate the productive energy of the group, engaging in a dialogue with other artists, designers, DJs, architects, writers, etc. In her work, she particularly values an artisanal and local production with craftsmen, know-hows and materials that are in her immediate environment.

She obtained a Master’s degree in Object Design from École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (ENSAD) in Paris, and a Master’s in Applied Arts from the Dirty Art Department of the Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam. She took design courses at the University of Cincinnati and in several design agencies in New Yοrk City. Between 2014–2020, she was a tutor at the ‘Studio for Immediate Spaces’ Master’s programme at the Sandberg Instituut (Amsterdam) and she has been teaching and delivering workshops at various art schools such as HEAD (Geneva), TALM (Angers), and Saint-Etienne Higher School of Art and Design–ESADSE (Saint Etienne).

She works within diverse contexts ranging from public spaces to cultural institutions, offices to clubs, squats to social organizations, such as Centre Pompidou (Paris), Communitism (Αthens), Le Consulat de la Gaîté (Paris), De School Club (Amsterdam), Het Nieuwe Instituut (Rotterdam), Kassandras (Αthens), Krux (Amsterdam), Macao (Milano), Mille Formes art center for Children (Clermont-Ferrand), the Municipality of Clermont-Ferrand (France), Sandberg Instituut (Amsterdam), Wanderlust Club (Paris), Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik (Berlin), and the 10th Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Étienne, among others.

Laure Jaffuel is a participant of The Critical Practices Program of Οnassis AiR 2019-20 and of the Tailor-made Fellowships program 2022-23.

From the definition of UNESCO, a public space refers to an area or a place that is open and accessible to all peοple, regardless of gender, nationality, age, socio-economic class, opinion, appearance, physical ability, etc. I actually would like to cut this definition after “regardless of”. A place open to all regardless of anything.

Like a party, the public space is ‘always open because it’s not ordered, it may be planned but until it happens, it’s a failure’ to quote Hakim Bey (Peter Lamborn Wilson) from the book Temporary Autonomous Zone. I find this definition resonating especially in Αthens, where the vernacular infrastructure of the city has been made by the peοple for the peοple, producing a very horizontal, vivid and mixed public space.

I entered this research residency period at Οnassis AiR Critical Practices Program with three questions: 1. What is public space? 2. How do different typologies of public space in Αthens deploy strategies to create solidarities, social exchange and collective experience? 3. How can we look at Athenian public space as a model for a social system constructed by vernacular infrastructures?

I used an ‘Open-ended design’ methodology to allow the project to evolve, define and redefine itself according to its changing context(s) with an intentional ever-evolving definition as a starting-point. I organized interviews and informal exchanges to integrate other voices in the research and generate an ongoing dialogue with different actors of the Athenian scenes. Experts and non-experts ranging from architects to “periptero” sellers, urban planners to municipal representatives, socio-cultural workers to neighbors, students to artists, etc.

The research period overlapped and was eventually conducted during the time of the global COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in March and April 2020. The question of what is ‘public space’ in this extraordinary context became more urgent. This critical situation somehow highlighted that it remains, even in times of social deprivation, a universal and fundamental topic of contemporary society and a timeless subject.

As a continuation of the project after the residency, the outcome of the research will take the shape of a publication seen as a collaborative platform that includes extracts from interviews and texts/visuals from external contributors I have invited. Curating as a form of authorship that gives a voice to all. The publication aims to propose an ontological approach of public space and social commons, intentionally adopting a poetical and fictional language to address such a political and critical subject.

Taking on the role of the editor, I used the same design methodology that I normally apply to making objects in order to create the publication. Designing its agency rather than its function, creating a book like an object. Designing its materiality and its shape as much as its content. Addressing the subject of the "public space", for me, could not be a monologue. This publication project retraces all the discussions I had with peοple during the research and aims to continue to open up the conversation on the subject. Like the Athenian street, this publication functions as a multilayered space, a hybrid format, and will hopefully tell some stories or initiate a chat with a stranger.

Research mentors: Maria-Thalia Carras & Olga Hatzidaki (locus athens)

Production mentor: Fanis Dalezios (DOLCE)