Algue

Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, designers of Algue, are famous for their fresh designs that combine a forward-looking design language with modern materials and innovative ideas. As such the portfolio of the Brittany brothers features an extremely wide range of design objects. Starting with accessories such as the Vitra Algue, numerous vases, lamps and textiles, the work of the Bouroullec's stretches over "ordinary" furniture pieces such as the Slow Chair or the Belleville Collection for Vitra to much more conceptual works. With the Algue the brothers created in 2004 an object that is intended as a room divider, and which can take various forms. Thus the Vitra Algae meets exactly the philosophy of Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec: "Design should be considered as a way to produce a certain variety in series, in an attempt to escape from authoritarianism and to submit the job to the user". As with Algue the designs of Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec are regularly defined by an ethereal lightness and delicacy, which of course is what gives everyday objects their magical aura.

Vitra Algue

Production

The manufacturer of the Algue is the contemporary furniture manufacturer Vitra, based in Birsfelden, Switzerland and in nearby Weil am Rhein, Baden-Württemberg, where the company operate several production facilities. Algae are made from injection moulded plastic and sold in packages of 25 pieces: 25 Vitra Algue allowing for a room divider/curtain of about 1 m². At the ends of each algae-like projection are circular recesses through which the individual elements can be connected by means of separate connectors. The design of the Bouroullec Algue is thus conceived so that various shapes can be created and subsequently broken and re-formed as and if required. Vitra places great emphasis on sustainability in the production of all their products. Just one of many criteria are the short procurement channels of materials: 50% of suppliers are based in Germany, 97% in Europe and only 3% of the materials used by Vitra are sourced from other countries and regions.

The VitraHaus on the Vitra Campus

Manufacturer

The story of Vitra's rise to become one of the most successful international designer furniture manufacturers began in 1953 when owner Willi and Erika Fehlbaum discovered an Eames Chair on a business trip to the USA, and subsequently acquired the licenses for said chair and other products produced by American furniture manufacturer Herman Miller. In addition to the furniture of Charles and Ray Eames Vitra have worked in the subsequent decades with numerous designers including Verner Panton, Alexander Girard, Jean Prouvé, Antonio Citterio, Jasper Morrison and Hella Jongerius and as such have enriched the history of furniture design. The designs of Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec have similarly and unquestionably helped contribute to the outstanding quality of the Vitra range. An important part in the Vitra profile is also the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein where you will find buildings by various renowned architects, such as the Herzog & de Meuron Vitrahaus or Frank Gehry's Vitra Design Museum.

Algue by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec offers a wide range of uses and forms.

Designer

Ronan Bouroullec was born in 1971 in Quipper, Brittany. Erwan Bouroullec in 1976, also in Quimper. In 1996, Ronan graduated from the Ecole Nationale des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and immediately founded his own design studio. Erwan was still studying at that time, but had already began working with Ronan in the studio. And upon graduating joined his brother as equal partner in the design studio. Since then Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec have developed a portfolio that reaches from small utilitarian objects up to architectural projects. The collaborate with Vitra began in 2000 with the office furniture system Joyn. In addition to the 2004 room divider system Algue, the Bouroullecs have enriched the Vitra Home Collection with many other objects, most recently in 2012 with the flexible storage space/shelving system, Corniches.

Algue designers Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec: here with their Vegetal Chair