Erwan Bouroullec’s ARBA Collection Returns With More From Less

French designer Erwan Bouroullec returns with the ARBA Collection for raawii. An extension of the original ARBA Chair, the collection now features a bench, a two-seater sofa, and a coffee table. Careful attention to proportion on display, the pieces come flat packed, intent on taking up exactly as much space as necessary – and no more. This theme extends to the manufacturing processes of the collection, sustainable and circular design baked into production. Molded plywood elements interact dynamically with a cross-like structure of bent metal profiles. Together with a die-cast aluminum base, this ensures the ARBA Collection’s materiality and precision of craft will extend longevity, respecting the material used to create the pieces in the first place. Refined yet approachable, Design Milk had the opportunity to discuss the details of the new pieces in an exclusive interview with Erwan.

Design Milk: The ARBA Collection now includes a bench, two-seater, and side table. What inspired you to revisit and expand on the original series?

Erwan Bouroullec: Bo [Raahauge] and Nicholai [Wiig-Hansen] and I get along very nicely, building our own type of universe. Originally, this was an important move, because it was my first time doing furniture – so many possibilities. I enjoy the process of collaboration, we can do a lot to engage if we wish. A piece of furniture doesn’t exist in a vacuum, it has multiple players that exist in a room. I think there is this like theme of focusing on systems design, so we talk about how we see like a product holistically, and how we encourage people to focus on certain aspects of the product. When we as designers design the systems in the way that the products are made, we add movement and longevity to the design.

You’ve said, “I never quite discerned a significant difference in the energy required for Art versus Design.” Could you elaborate on how you approach those two disciplines, and where you see their boundaries – or lack thereof?

I think there are many differences, but what I was really trying to say is for me that is exactly the same practice, in different tones. The studio is contrast – I’m happy to show things that are diverse, that could look opposite in a way where certain elements are similar. I sometimes think about our monkey mind, how we decide instinctually. It is misleading, sometimes, that there is an instinctive manner to art, as it is only understood by others in the sharing of it. Design is this way but, in the sense of pure meaning, you don’t have to read a chair, or read the table before understanding what exactly it is. Design conveys itself in many social protocols, one good example is the rule of the coffee cup.

So, the coffee cup has to hold coffee, it has to be a cup, it has many jobs. But it also says welcome, it also says come sit down, it also says sit and chat. I’ve got two daughters, and I’ve been enjoying how they discover things, like little animals – they resist all the social protocols and take them on as their own. Since kids are wonderfully agile, they can show you freedom, joy, and engagement differently. There are so many things that are tools to divide us, and there are so many things that are here to ground us in the body.

It’s true that art is provoking some breakthroughs, there are many breakthroughs that can happen only with art. Art, at some point, imposes to confront, and it must be engaged with emotionally. You can’t afford to build a town in an enigma. In the back of our minds, there’s a monkey is getting a lot of ‘go’ or ‘no go’ from design, and that’s more of a delicate practice at this point.

This isn’t your first time collaborating with raawii. What new insights or challenges emerged in working together again on this next chapter of ARBA?

We are living in a world in which we need to be very careful about trying to tell the truth as much as possible. We are in a world in which fake is not always a problem, but it’s tough to not be. Some things are pretending they’re made out of wood but it’s not wood, same with metal but it’s plastic, it’s all pretend. The monkey inside us is getting lost, touching gold and finding out it’s plastic, it’s terrible for our brains, doubting what’s real. We need to run, jump, feel things, and if we are tricked or confused, we stop trusting the world around us. We will only jump to another branch if we know we are ready. To me, the flat pack nature of ARBA the accessibility and materiality of the collection, it’s similar to not spoiling things as much as you can, and making it available for as many as possible. There is a certain kind of joy playing creates, making a certain confidence. We stay with this theme of sober making – it’s not it’s not crazy manufacturing, it’s not crazy pricing, we try to do our best within this world.

The new ARBA pieces debuted at 3daysofdesign, just like the original collection. Looking back, have you noticed any shifts – in your own work, or in the design landscape more broadly – between last year’s presentation and this one?

3daysofdesign is always such a great show – one thing I don’t like so much is sometimes, it’s very clean, maybe too clean. Something looks too frozen in this certain kind of way, you might call it good taste. I’m kind of afraid of good taste – I’m afraid when things are too well done. A lot of beige, a lot of white. People would use fabric and color as a kind of beacon, a sign to others. This is something that needs to be picked up again, the decoration and novelty of the past provides local businesses with work and we humans are experts at pattern recognition.

Design is a tool for people to change in a way, and sometimes people need signs of change to act. Designers must produce novelties within design as a rule, they need a sign of change to see it in themselves. It’s going to be for many reasons, it comes to you if you agree with certain people or disagree, but this provokes movement. And no one is too old to move.

Erwan Bouroullec and his brother Ronan began working together in 1998, after completing their studies at École supérieure des Arts décoratifs in Paris and École nationale supérieure des Arts in Cergy. This set the design duo on a path to success, collaborating on most projects for fifteen years, ranging from small objects to architectural works.

raawii was founded in 2017, on the principle of dynamic life design. Producing optimal conditions for designers is essential to the raawii ethos, forming strong relationships under which to create respectful and useful products. Based in Copenhagen, they say of their work, “We enjoy working with like-minded spirits – people who are passionate about their work. Our goal is to facilitate quality. That’s why our door is always open, also because it’s important for us to keep curiosity alive; the curiosity to meet new people, engage in an interaction and create something new together.”

To learn more about the ARBA Collection by Erwan Bouroullec for raawii, please visit raawii.eu.

Photography by Thomas Degner.