JCDC x FM x E1: Les Contemporains. Chapter 1: Hall Haus. An exclusive series captured by Fabien Montique with Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, for Entitled1.

Jean-Charles de Castelbajac has spent over 40 years curating Les Contemporains – a gallery of artists who inspire him and shape the spirit of their time – which counts the likes of Andy Warhol and Vivienne Westwood among its subjects.

In this latest chapter, photographer Fabien Montique captures creatives who define the present moment at his home studio in Paris, where each embodies an iconic piece from Jean-Charles’s archive.

For the inaugural instalment, Jean-Charles and Fabien welcome the team behind Parisian design studio Hall Haus: Sammy Bernoussi, Teddy Sanches and Abdoulaye Niang.

Transcript:

Amy: Given we are in the colourful world of Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, I’ll start by asking: What colour are you feeling today?

Sammy: I feel green every day.

Amy: Why green?

Sammy: Because it’s a natural colour, like chlorophyll.

Amy: Natural like life.

Sammy: Yeah!

Amy: Alright. What songs have you recently put on your playlist?

Abdoulaye: Wonderful Place, by NERD.

Teddy: I put a song from Césaria Evoria, Sodade. She’s a Cape Verdean artist.

Sammy: A song by a girl called Fatima Tabaamrant. She’s from the mountains, where we are currently making carpets. It’s a Berber sound.

Amy: What’s a photo that you last took on your phone?

Sammy: My invoices for the accounting – a lot of tickets [fr: receipts]

Teddy: A picture of my mom.

Abdoulaye: A picture of the sky.

Sammy: I have something also. A big plate of meat, because yesterday was the birthday of a friend. So it’s a plate of meat: ribs, tomahawk, just all piled up. A full table of meat.

Amy: Okay! What are three words that you would use to describe your taste?

Sammy: Sunny. Sunny and shiny. Two is enough: sunny and shiny.

Teddy: I can say spontaneous, natural, and a bit crazy.

Abdoulaye: Minimalist. Monolith. And funny.

Amy: What are you obsessed with right now? Something personal, something professional. What is a current obsession? 

Sammy: Babies. 

Camera Operator: Some context: you’re a new father – or, you’re going to become a father. 

Sammy: Yes, I hope, soon.

Teddy: Me, my obsessions now, are, I think, glasses. 

Amy: All right. What is something that you would like to learn but you haven’t had the chance to yet? 

Sammy: I want to speak Arabic. And if I had something I could have learnt early when I was young, it’s programming. 

Teddy: For me, it’s to learn about my parents’ country – Cabo Verde. I need to learn more about it. 

Abdoulaye: And for me – Wolof, Arabic – a lot of languages.

Sammy: To learn to fly. 

Amy: Yeah, exactly. That’s the thing. You know, you could learn anything. The sky’s the limit…

Amy: What is the biggest driver of your creation? 

Teddy: Well, I think it’s a lot of discussion. It’s kind of an organic thing: it can be through pictures. It can be through exchanging messages. 

Amy: There’s a lot of stories that go into your creation too, no? References that go back to origin countries, materials, how they all come together. 

Sammy: I think the first part is something new. Something exclusive and authentic from your roots and your environment, and yet something also accessible to as many people as possible. Not something exclusive. Something new, original, but accessible.

Amy: I have to ask you, taking a departure from some of these questions. How does it feel to sit in a box? 

Teddy: I mean, since it’s sunny, it’s great. If it was dark, maybe it’d be a bit more overbearing.

Sammy: It’s a set design. We feel like we are in a set. 

Amy: How often are you usually sitting in your own chairs? 

Teddy: Not a lot actually!

Sammy: I have one at home, so when I drink coffee, or maybe when I put on my shorts every day.

Amy: How do they feel? 

Sammy: Good! 

Amy: What is the most boring question you are asked? 

Teddy: Give me a definition of design. 

Sammy: People ask, like, ‘How is it going with Hall Haus?’ Well, good. [Laughs]

Amy: What do you wish they would ask instead? 

Sammy: What’s your IBAN? What’s your PayPal account? 

Amy: That’s a very good question! How do you feel about the idea of doubt? Is doubt something that, in a way, is useful to you, or is it something you try to escape?

Teddy: Since we are a group, if someone has a doubt, we can exchange about it. That’s the power of us being four, I feel. We can have doubts, it’s okay, because you ask questions. It creates interactions. 

Amy: What is one design from 2000 onward, from the last 25 years, that you think will stand the test of time, that will be timeless? 

Sammy: Social networks. 

Amy: And if you could put one object in a time capsule to open in 50 years, what would you put in it? 

Sammy: Paper and pen. Before we connect our brain to something and AI removes creativity. 

Amy: What would you write on it? Or you would just put the paper and pen?

Sammy: I wouldn’t write something, no. Just that it’s a tool.

Amy: When you look back on your earliest creations together, as Hall Haus, is there something that surprises you from your earliest designs, looking back? 

Teddy: I think it’s the curry mango chair, because it’s the first creation we did together. Since we all put our energy in that one object. When I look back, it’s surprising, because the way we created that time was special. We had no formal project, but we focused with the same energy on it, and that was rare at the time. That object still feels special, I can say, for all of us. 

Amy: If you could have a positive impact on the world – or even just your own world – what would you hope that would be? 

Sammy: With what we do with our work, it involves a lot of social interaction, and it already has a positive impact. There are a lot of people that work with us; it’s a long supply chain, from material to delivering a product. This involves a lot of people; it creates an economy, and so people work through that. By creating our own company, and by selling our own products, there’s a long chain of value that we involve, and we’re already playing a part in this, and it’s a good impact.

Amy: Do you trust your instincts more now, or less? 

All: Less. Less. More. Both! 

Sammy: When we really want to do something, we find a way to find the money, to find the context to create it, but sometimes we are not satisfied.

Abdoulaye: I think at the beginning, we used to rely more on our instincts, it was more spontaneous, we were younger, we just came out, we had to prove things, and now it’s a bit more thoughtful, so we rely less on our instincts, but more on our experience, to really make something solid. 

Amy: Last question – what are you still curious about? 

Sammy: We are here because we are curious. Every question that people ask, it’s a way for us to think anew about what we are doing. 

Teddy: Since the start, we’ve been curious, because we were inspired by hip-hop. For example, we discovered design through artists like Kanye West, and Pharell Williams, and since then we always make connections. We try to have projects unique to music, unique to sports, to the many fields that touch our everyday life. We use it all to create, so there is no border between what we do every day and our work. Everything is linked, so that’s the way we stay curious, actually.

This interview has been lightly edited.