Emergences 2020, a Design Biennale

Last weekend, the Design Biennale Emergence had the good taste to take place at the Centre National de la Danse, in Pantin – a majestic brutalist building by Jacques Kalisz, initally built as an administrative centre and today turned into a contemporary dance venue.

The Centre National de la Danse in Pantin

This session of the biennale was focusing on “Ressources” and was the occasion to show the newest and future trends in this matter. The artists and craftsmen and women exhibited showed the results of their search, from jewels and ceramics recycled from old crockery (Julie Decubber) to forms of hybridity between art and design focusing more on the form than on the use (Studiolow). We personally very much appreciated the “exotic” works by Anaïs Beaulieu diverting our visions on everyday objects with a slight “add-on” as well as many other works questioning our relationship to materials and everyday objects.

Julie Decubber's jewels and ceramics from old crockery

Julie Decubber’s jewels and ceramics from old crockery

Studiolow's foam living room

Studiolow’s foam living room questionning the fragility of the hidden materials of our everyday structures

Anaïs Beaulieu embroidery

Anaïs Beaulieu’s embroidery rejoicing our everyday objects

On the other hand, other designers we appreciated as well focused on the necessity to work with new materials –like Anne & Thibaud Klepper‘s curved lamps made out of recycled plastics and oak wood and Victoria Lièvre‘s tableware made of orange pulp–, or to study the strength of local materials and forms –like Juliette Vergne‘s subtle silk imprints with natural dye to reproduce forms of local vegetation.

Anne & Thibaud Klepper's curved lamps

Anne & Thibaud Klepper’s curved lamps

Victoria Lièvre orange pulp tableware

Victoria Lièvre’s tableware made of orange pulp

Juliette Vergne silk imprint

Juliette Vergne’s silk imprint with natural dye

All in all, the event was a great occasion first to get out for a while and enjoy this incredible CND building, but also to question ourselves further on the topics brought forward by the Biennale. This was maybe our third or fourth time visiting it and althoug –of course– we can’t appreciate every work exhibited, we actually never regret it!


That Summer, That Paris

That Summer, That Paris

Let’s meet in the Paris Summer! Since the lockdown, we’ve felt the vaccine wind of change blowing us forward! TheWaysBeyond has started working with companies again and is now in the starting blocks to get back to our favourite discovery guided tours! All the more this year as we have been shortlisted among the 19 […]

2021 With You and For You!

2021 With You and For You!

Hello, What a year! 2020 is a year we will all definitely remember! We have to admit that it was quite a challenge for us and our sector. After a wonderful start of the year and great projects planned we had to cancel them all, as you can imagine. But as the saying goes: What […]

Free Online Christmas Guided Tour in Russia, Iceland, Romania and France!

Free Online Christmas Guided Tour in Russia, Iceland, Romania and France!

–When you can’t travel the world, let the world come to you– If the lockdown has forced us to temporarily suspend our “live” activities with TheWaysBeyond, we definitely do not sit back waiting for Spring! And if we are writing a little less at the moment, it is simply because we are focusing on new […]

Auvers-Sur-Oise, Sightseeing With Van Gogh

Auvers-Sur-Oise, Sightseeing With Van Gogh

Which are the most beautiful villages in Ile de France? We would say that there is no right or wrong answer since there are so many pretty towns around Paris. Although many people would agree that Auvers-sur-Oise is on their top list. Vincent Van Gogh described Auvers-sur-Oise as ‘Seriously beautiful’ in his correspondance with his […]

Street Art at the Top (of Ménilmontant)

Street Art at the Top (of Ménilmontant)

Do you know that 20ème arrondissement is a very important arrondissement in Paris in terms of street art ? Different from the 13eme arrondissement where the richness of the street art is driven by a local political strategy, the street art scene in the 20ème is purely created by local artists and it has been […]

Jardin de la Nouvelle-France, a Hidden Peace Haven along the Champs-Élysées

Jardin de la Nouvelle-France, a Hidden Peace Haven along the Champs-Élysées

Although you may pass it by many times without noticing it, we warmly invite you to have look when you’re around at this little peace haven, perfectly hidden and discrete behind the Grand Palais. Located on the edge of Cours la Reine, the Jardin de la Nouvelle France was created in the 17th century by […]

Private Choice 2020

Private Choice 2020

October in Paris always rhymes with art fairs, much to our pleasure! And while we are patiently waiting for the new edition of Asia Now next weekend, we had the chance to attend the private opening of Private Choice, the most magical art fair “at human size”! Every year, Private Choice means the assurance of […]

Belleville Opens the Doors of its Artists’ Studios

Belleville Opens the Doors of its Artists’ Studios

Last weekend was also the occasion for us to have a cultural stroll around our neighbourhood. The association Les Ateliers d’Artistes de Belleville organised an open door weekend of about 85 different artists’ studios! For a lack of time, we decided to only visit the ones around our home. Still, that meant already a bit […]

Nuit Blanche 2020

Nuit Blanche 2020

The Nuit Blanche 2020 finally took place last night, despite the fear it may be canceled due to new restrictions. During this night the entire city is charged with all kinds of art installations and artistic performances, museums are open and the city becomes a big open air art center! The Nuit Blanche 2020 was […]

Around Ménilmontant – Tips & Treats

Around Ménilmontant – Tips & Treats

As mentioned in my previous post, the idea of this new blog is a.o. to share with you some bits of our lives, but also information about Paris and some advice based on our experience of the city. But when it comes to advising, what could we better talk about than our own neighbourhood? ? […]

Brussels + Beijing = Paris

Brussels + Beijing = Paris

When Nikki and I met a few years ago, and after starting to dig through Paris’s secrets and discovering what’s going on outside the périphérique, we soon started a blog, which we called “Brussels Beijing Paris”, after the cities we were from and the one we met and live in. We wanted to relate our […]

Suivez-nous sur Instagram : @TheWaysBeyond