At the initiative of the Institut français, around fifteen foreign professionals have just taken part in a Design Focus on French territory. From May 8 to 15, they followed a very dense program of meetings and workshops, to make them aware of French expertise and develop exchanges.
Organized by the Institut français, the Focuses are thematic trips, aimed at sharing practices, exchanging ideas and projects, the objective being to develop professional networks and the networking of partners, or even the pooling of programs and practices. Developed by the Institute, they allow foreign interlocutors to meet the major players in a sector in a concentrated time.
It is in this context that last week, a group of professionals carried out a veritable marathon around French design from Paris to the Biennale de Saint-Etienne. Japan, Costa Rica, Denmark, Morocco, Poland, Indonesia, India, Korea… The foreign participants came from more than 13 countries, from all continents.
A very eclectic program
From the Mobilier national to the research department of the School of Decorative Arts, from French Design by Via to the via galleries and workshops, the schedule of meetings deliberately immersed the participants in the heart of French design: schools, research, know-how. craft and industrial, heritage… From Jean-Louis Fréchin to Rudy Bauer, via Goliath Dyèvre, Constance Guisset, Les Sismo, Mathilde Brétillot, Alexandre Imbert, Samy Rio…this Focus has endeavored to show the diversity of approaches, from the design of products to that of services, and especially the diversity of fields of intervention.
In the logic of the French Institute’s commitment to design, the combination of interventions provided a dynamic French panorama, attentive to the creativity of new generations (“New Worlds” winners, etc.), committed to major societal challenges. (the “Care” sector, biomaterials, digital transformation, etc.), a player in the development of new economic ecosystems (craftsmanship, short circuits, etc.).
Develop markets
By creating the Focus programs, the objective of the Institut français is also to facilitate exchanges to concretely enrich the programming of positions abroad. Thus the participants discovered projects, collaborations, exhibitions already carried out, which they could resume, such as projects in preparation, in France or abroad.
Nathalie Degardin
