Hello, I'm Ulysse.

The Office - A mobile design studio 2022

Semester project

This project is born out a new vision for how designers should work. Usually isolated in their studios, we want to bring the design studio on the road, to find insiration, go on the field, and meet the people they work with and for. With minimal intervention on an ubiquidous structure from the 70s, the Caravane, we propose to turn these spaces into an office space, a fablab, an recording chamber or a photography studio

The structure is made of two tubular rails, on which the furniture clips on. The rail is fastened on a vertical structure that lines the inside, while sandwiching with the existing structure to strengthen it while allowing the outside to become instantly recognizable.

Project with Hugo Le Guen

Stenope2022

Short project

This month long project tasked us to build a pin-hole camera. I wanted to explore how to play with the limits of the technology while improving the experience of shooting pictures in this way. Through experimentaiton, I defined criterias for a better camera, including easily angleing it, previewing what you were shooting, attaching it to objects, and easily changing the hole size and shape.
The entire object can be collapsed down. Total darkness within is achieved by pulling together the edges of the sides cut at 45 degree angles, that are covered with a thick joint.

Out of Breath - Vacuum Furniture 2022

LB-collection

As we buy more things online, I have been wondering why furniture design not represent this relation to objects? Most often, when we thing flat pack, we think Ikea boxes or camping chairs. I wanted to move away from this paradigm, and design a chair that would show comfort while also being honest about how it was put together. I first explored the design language of foam under constraint, playing around with vacuum-sealing small samples. I then explored how to use that new found language to sculpt something that would signify the seat, but also talk about comfort. The structure holding everything together is that of a clamp, that diagonally attaches to a large foam mattress folded in half. This hard wooden part contrast with the voluptuous and soft mattress it constrains. The matress itself is designed from the inside to better adapt to the body as we sit.

Straps - Plane Storage System 2019

Safran Seats

Planes are notoriously uncomfortable, in part because of their lack of adaptability to the traveler’s needs.
In a group with Donatien Lenoir, we freed up the space in front of the user by moving down the tray table to where the seat pocket is usually located, and turned to elastics as a way to create a very versatile storage system. This not only lets the user store all types of things, it also ensures he keeps access to his belongings even when the tray table is unfolded.
Overall, our product is a simple and elegant answer to the plane’s complex environment.

Images by Veronique Huyghes

TapTap - Connected Object 2017

Alessi

What would it mean for a company like Alessi to make a connected product? Building on their long heritage of crafting friendly and even relational products, I approached the prompt with the idea of relationships in mind.
How to entertain a connection with someone through a device? Too often we resort to our phones to tell people we are thinking of them, but words sometimes feel cumbersome. My proposal is to bypass words, and create more of a presence. TapTap is at the entrance of your home, so that when you arrive, you can see that the other person is thinking of you through the light pulse of the device. To respond, you can choose to put your keeps on the long side of the key bowl, or on the shorter side to stay incognito.

Images by Veronique Huyghes

Algeo - Toys for Children 2020

Centre Pompidou

The Centre Pompidou has been trying to bring the artist’s point of view to children, through workshops and kids sessions, and now through toys and games. For us, this means pushing children to see things a little differently.
Together with Giulia Bennedetti, we turned to ice as a material that can bring a wide variety of shapes, perceptual effects, and gameplays. By freezing small objects like seashells and flowers, in different types of molds, along with small cork shapes that help guide the narration of the final object, the child can reinvent the toy perpetually.
The ice always has to disappear, which adds a level of magic and excitement, while making the toy more environmentally friendly.

Biomimicry - On Mars 2018

Biomimicry on mars, or how we can learn from nature here on earth to better adapt to a new planet.
First studying the many challenges of colonizing mars, my partner and I focused to trying to make better solar radiation protection system, notably that it be independent of humans and use only ressources readily available on the red planet. After talking to experts from the CNRS, it became apparent that dust would be our best bet. Many projects exist to use the dust as a 3D printing basis to build protective habitats, but we would be using dust storms as a mechanism to cover our structure with 100 millimeters of dust. We looked at many filtering system existing in nature, from a whale’s baleen to termites ventilation systems, and build prototypes that allowed us to test our solutions.

Workshops - Wood, Metal, Plastics

Ensci les ateliers takes a hand-on approach to design. We are always confronted with material as the first step towards making a product. We learn to work with these materials not only for their aesthetics, but also for their mechanical properties. We also explore form for what it is, without a need for function, in order to explore creative possibilities.
Here, you can find samples of my productions.

Images by Veronique Huyghes