Théo Mouzard & Marine Royer

Théo Mouzard is an architect, artist and co-director of Collectif Etc. His work questions the designer’s role with regard to climate and social issues through the development of site-specific solutions which help communities transform shared spaces. These projects combine arts, crafts and architecture to invent creative opportunities that bring people together. As part of his ongoing research, he co-founded Editions Hyperville, a publishing company, and co-directed the Architecture School of Commons European research-action programme in 2021-2024.

Marine Royer is a service designer. A 2006 graduate of École Boulle, she is co-founder and co-manager of vives voies, a non-profit which invents and shares projects that explore connections between the humanities, the social sciences, culture, social solidarity and design. She obtained her PhD from École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in 2015 and, since 2016, has been a designer-researcher at and deputy director of the PROJEKT design research laboratory at Université de Nîmes. Her experimental research revolves around the notion of caring, specifically the idea that caring – in design – is to prioritise maintenance and repair while respecting the dynamic that existed before the designer intervenes.

Successions of past and current disasters are prompting Japanese citizens to imagine new ways to preserve their local surroundings and make use of their everyday environment. Since the Tohoku earthquake and Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, the topics of care and repair have reshaped thinking across every generation of architect and designer in Japan; their commitment has enabled new connections with design, craftmanship and art. If we are to achieve “ecological redirection” (Monnin, 2024), we must end new builds, question the limits of urban lifestyles, and involve and empower communities, especially the most vulnerable. The same questions and problems are also the subject of discussion in France and Europe, particularly since the 2008 financial crisis. These optimistic, hope-filled practices give rise to action in the field, particularly in more rural areas, and collaborative practices focused on specific resources and know-how. Royer and Mouzard intend to follow two lines of research: “from resource to place” and “from landscape to object”.

Portrait : Théo et Marine – Nîmes 2021 © Thomas Heydon
– 1 Projet « Paquita » – Nîmes 2021
-2 Projet « Pétassages » – Lozère 2023 © François Huguet / Vives voies
-3 Projet « Un atoll au Nord » – Tromso (Norvège) © Collectif Etc
-4 Projet « Service d’art à domicile » – 2022 © Vives voies / Derrière le Hublot