D-5 The exhibition “Life of Forms” opens in five days! As we await its inaugurat…
‼️ D-5 The exhibition “Life of Forms” opens in five days!
As we await its inauguration, I’ll be sharing a short video every day introducing the works & ideas of the designers featured in the show.
Today, let’s take a look at @paul.ledron who, born in Mali and raised in Côte d’Ivoire, works across furniture, craftsmanship and contemporary forms, using objects as vessels for stories, rituals and inherited knowledge.
What interests me in his collection The Shapes of Passing, developed during his residency in AlUla, is the way Paul approaches furniture through time rather than simply through function and form. Dunan Dalan, a daybed covered with cyanotype textiles, records the shadows of plants from the AlUla oasis. Sira Ladi, an incense altar surrounded by benches, turns sitting and smelling into part of the object itself, recalling AlUla’s history as a stop along the Incense Route. And in Tamaro Ja, handmade palm paper filters light through a material whose own history is inseparable from the oasis.
Here, furniture does not simply accommodate the body: it creates the conditions for lingering, sensing and remembering.
Life of Forms
8–13 Sept, 2026
Lafayette Anticipations, Paris
Co-curated by @clement_delepine and @arnaud__morand, w. associated curators @emilymarant @ali.alghazzawi @audrey_chazal
Deepest thanks to @lafayetteanticipations @artsalula @designspacealula @horizonalula & @villahegra for making this project possible; to @kh1co & @simon.blancgarcia for their leadership; to the dream team: @ali.alghazzawi @hindakhalid @sumighose @audrey_chazal @studiomarant (@emilymarant @leonie.orceau ) @marilouthiebault @agence_eva_albarran @sarakrmc @tatianatitli @wshzazou, & @lafayetteanticipations’ team @geraldinebreuil_ @annabelfloriant @chloemgde @cleliadh dj_bisou @ysehartmann @adr.lisa ceciledgt
The Alula Design Residency is a program I have the pleasure to lead with @ali.alghazzawi, launched in 2023 as a partnership between @artsalula & @horizonalula under the leadership of @kh1co @simon.blancgarcia, with the team @emilymarant @audrey_chazal. This second iteration was curated by @dominiquepetit_ & produced by @athrart
