In 2008 Quentin Cornet and I worked on a project in Guinea, called Residence 0. In September 2012, we went back to Guinea to realize two new workshops: a design workshop with the students from I’ISAG and a research exploration workshop with professional craftsmen. The workshops were structured in a manner that allowed for open discussion and criticism. The finishing product was showcased for one day at Jardin du 2 octobre, a local community park, and for a month at Le Petit Musee, a local gallery and institution.

Student Workshop:

Eleven students participated in this workshop, which had a theme of gaining new inspiration from imitating. The students were assigned to chose an object and write three brief texts. The first text described the way the object was made, the second described its function and the last text was to explain their previous personal encounter with the object. Afterwards, they had to replicate the object using materials that they were able to find within the vicinity of their home and the techniques of their choosing. From this process the students created their own approach for developing a completely new object. With only three weeks to develop their objects, they were able to find inspiration from their new methods of fabrication, new discovered materials, and new ways of interpreting cultural differences. In turn, new objects were formed in Guinea.