This is the third post in our interview series with ten influential I.D. curators, retailers and creative directors. Yesterday, we talked to Bernhardt Design’s Jerry Helling.
Odile Hainaut is always looking for design that tells a story—and, as manager of New York’s Gallery R’Pure and co-founder with Claire Pijoulat of WantedDesign, she is continually crafting unique opportunities for product designers to showcase their work. Founded in 2011, WantedDesign grew out of the desire for a more interactive and intimate forum during New York Design Week, bringing together manufacturers, designers, students and the public for workshops and dialogue about design. Gallery R’Pure, an offshoot of the consultancy Raison Pure (where Hainaut is Director of Communications), provides the French-born Hainaut with an experimental lab through which to introduce the work of young French and American designers to a wider audience.
How do you find out about new designers?
Number one, seeing them at the fairs during design weeks. The Salone del Mobile in Milan, Maison et Objet in Paris, the London Design Festival and Design Miami—that’s one I never miss. You go to meet people, to really concentrate on discovering designers and looking at things. When I’m traveling, I’m always excited. If I come back and I’ve met or discovered three people, I’m happy. Fairs are key for discovering new talent. You have to be curious.
When I’m traveling, I always take the time to look at galleries, museums and design shows. And I love blogs and magazines. I always buy all the design magazines: Wallpaper, Surface, Ideat, Elle Decor, Metropolis, Intramuros, Frame. I also look at travel magazines in France to see what’s happening in the world. As for blogs, I read Core77, Design Milk, Designboom, Sight Unseen, Nowness, Monocle.
Schools are important too. For WantedDesign workshops, we’ve had a chance to meet students from schools like Art Center College of Design, Parsons, the School of Visual Arts, ENSCI Les Ateliers, ENSAAMA Olivier de Serres, CENTRO Mexico. You learn a lot and you understand a lot about the way young designers are working, what are their interests and how they are looking at the future.
Then, of course, people who come to the gallery or send me work. I take the time to read the e-mails or look at the portfolio when someone sends something.
The Props series by Frederick McSwain—part of the exhibition Off the Grid at Gallery R’Pure last spring
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