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Matière Noire is a Paris-based creative studio leading new approaches to spacial design. Built on a network of parallel disciplines, our operation cultivates ambivalence, using observational methods to ground its intuitive impulses. Matière Noire is driven by an appetite for the undefined, the hypothetical, the intangible. Its process celebrates unexpected derivations, developing them into bespoke applications of cross-cultural collaboration.

20 rue Saint Sauveur 75002
contact@matiere-noire.paris
+33 9 70 66 95 66

Spatial design studio
Light design
Scenography

Moncler presents ‘the City of Genius’ - Ten guest designers, 8,000 attendees, 57 million viewers. A metropolis of creativity, ‘the City of Genius' takes over the CSSC Pavilion, a historic shipyard on Shanghai’s Huangpu River. An immersive showcase of collaborative innovation, this iteration of Moncler’s Genius platform unveils 10 pavilions, or neighbourhoods, imagined by a global line-up of creative visionaries. Matière Noire signs the light design of two of these pavilions: Rick Owens’ ‘Refuge’ and Hiroshi Fujiwara & Richard Wilson’s ‘Looking Glass’. For Owens, an atmospheric environment cloaks a rugged steel sanctuary, the elusive ‘mountain refuge’. An off-grid structure, it stands isolated by a deep shroud of smog. Diffusing graphic streaks of light, the contrasted display evokes the encounter of outdoor adventures and runway scenography. For his concept, Fujiwara wanted to challenge the conventional idea of a city. “Instead of a bustling, crowded place, I envisioned an empty city – a place of reflection.” This reductive concept finds its echo in the work of artist-sculptor Richard Wilson, particularly his iconic 1987 installation, ‘20:50’. Flooded with used oil, the space is divided by a perfect, reflective plane that both mirrors and distorts its volume and details.

The City of Genius by Rick Owens - Direction:
The City of Genius by Hiroshi Fujiwara - Direction:
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