Design as a Tool for Transition: The Atelier Luma Approach

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Design as a Tool for Transition: The Atelier Luma Approach. Designed by Studio Folder. Courtesy Studio Folder.

During this year’s Salone del Mobile, we finally presented to the public the book we’ve been developing for Atelier Luma, titled Design as a Tool for Transition: the Atelier Luma Approach. I co-edited the volume with Jan Boelen, and was thrilled to work alongside Studio Folder on this project, as they developed the editorial design and a fantastic set of maps and other visual treats that help tell the story of this ambitious and impactful project.
The book, a bi-lingual edition in French and English, combines insights from international experts with the visual storytelling of the first years of several projects, bringing together the wide network of this initiative and opening up new avenues of practice for the field of design. It is available here.

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Design as a Tool for Transition: The Atelier Luma Approach. Designed by Studio Folder. Courtesy Studio Folder.

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Design as a Tool for Transition: The Atelier Luma Approach. Designed by Studio Folder. Courtesy Studio Folder.

 

Atelier Luma book
Browsing Design as a Tool for Transition: the Atelier Luma Approach. Photo Atelier Luma.

Atelier LUMA at Palazzo Clerici

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The Atelier LUMA brochure, distributed this year during Milan Design Week at the Palazzo Clerici.

During the 2018 Milan Design Week, Atelier LUMA took over the courtyard of Palazzo Clerici, where, in four different studiolo structures, it presented recent outcomes of the material exploration and research they are actively conducting in Arles, in the South of France. I was happy to have worked on the project’s brochure, which was presented in Milan for the first time, and with a wonderful design by Andrea Anner, will continue to serve as a fantastic visual and conceptual introduction to the large-scale intervention that is taking shape in Arles. If you don’t follow the journey of Atelier LUMA, I warmly invite you to find out more on their website.

The inception of atelier LUMA

A view of the Algae Lab team in the Camargue wetlands. Photo © atelier LUMA
A view of the Algae Lab team in the Camargue wetlands. Photo © atelier LUMA

The last days of May were marked by the first open house and public presentation of atelier LUMA, a new, experimental project taking place since mid-2016 in Arles with the artistic direction of Jan Boelen. atelier LUMA is a think tank, a production workshop, a learning network and an archive for knowledge and tools of the LUMA Foundation. Based in Arles, in the Camargue region, atelier LUMA wants to co-develop new ways of producing and caring for a city and a bioregion, using design as a tool for transition.

Since 2016 I have been privileged to follow and document this project, as part of the atelier LUMA team. One of the most visible faces of the project, for those who cannot make the trip down to Arles and see the wonderful, large-scale transformation the initiative promotes in the territory, is the website, which I was happy to work on in the last months. I invite you to visit it, learn more and engage with atelier LUMA – and stay tuned for the many fantastic things that will be coming out of Arles.