MEMPHIS

Reiz

Outstanding Unconventional Collections From Face A Face

FACE A FACE has been a premium French designer label for a long time, known for its lovingly and elaborately designed collections. In its new collections, this attitude typical of the brand gets a tangible motto. The symbiosis of colors and sculptural shapes is done in the style of Memphis. The Parisian designers are inspired by the radical art movement of the 80s, which turned the minimalism of the time on its head. Marianne Dèzes from the FACE A FACE Design Lab explains to us exactly what influence the Memphis style has on the individual models.

FACE

Face A Face

Hi Marianne, where does your love for the Memphis style come from?

The father of my Italian boyfriend, in the old days, lived in an Italian villa full of Memphis masterpieces – a crazy house! When we saw the “MEMPHIS” exhibition in Beaubourg Museum in Paris, we rediscovered the Memphis roots and its fascinating "beautiful-ugly" atmosphere. What are the main distinguishing features of this art movement?

Memphis is a mix of wild kitsch postmodernism based on elementary geometrical shapes, a shock of patterns in reaction to the rational-minimalist dictatorship of those times. It is nonconformist, breaking all the codes, and giving expressiveness a much bigger value than functionality.

The Memphis style is the counter-design to “form follows function” or “less is more”. Weren’t you always very close to this style with your design orientation anyway?

You could say so, but like all designers, we used to have some “rules of good taste”, such as not mixing strong patterns. But Memphis pushed us to try new ways to break our own rules.

The founder of the Memphis movement, Ettore Sottsass, once said “design begins where rational processes end, and those of magic start.” Does this attitude also apply to your eyewear design?

We are very much looking for this emotion as a way to validate our designs. When you like something at first sight, and you cannot explain why, you can be sure you are dealing with a strong aesthetic emotion, and that is a very exciting moment.

What specific design elements do you have in mind?

All of them, of course! The pure cylinder in »Sotsas«, the sculptured rainbow of »Novva«, the infinite spiral of »Calder« … Which color worlds do we find in the new collections?

We enjoyed working on new purple and green combinations, black and white patterns with vivid colors, a mix of 80s and 70s colors, and daring big contrasts. Is there a focus on specific materials?

Not really. It is more the art of recombining things, exploring new contrasts, but also new shades, such as duck green with smoked transparencies, deep violet shading, and burnt oranges. So maybe a spreading of 70s color in the air.

With your new collections, you appeal to the irrational and the unconventional.

Could you tell us for the models from our collection shoot what is special about it for you?

In the »Calder« concept, you have a titanium volumed spiral running around the eyes. It gives a sensation of great freedom, and the frame seems to be done in one gesture – you would not notice the huge technical development behind it. »Gioco«, which means “Play” in Italian, evokes both the queen of diamonds and the playful spirit of Memphis elementary shapes and colors. »Novva« sunglasses also have this bold elementary look, sophisticated with sculptures, contrasts, and rich transparencies.

In summary, what influence has Memphis had on your designs?

The theme of “elementary plays” definitely inspired us. We have been looking for something between “naïve childhood” and “connoisseur knowledge”. faceaface-paris.com