Continuity in Diversity

Anne Marchand

As part of an exploration into theoretical issues surrounding visual cultures and sustainability, Anne Marchand, a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Environmental Design at the University of Calgary, Canada, has realized a series of examples which offer disparate, unvalued goods a chance at a second life.

Marchand explores mechanisms that allow us to appreciate what we have while proposing a revived understanding of newness through the transformation and reinvention of objects and their context over time.

Her designs question our current visual culture whereby, for example, it might be perceived as inappropriate to set a dining table with disparate tableware pieces, and responds by offering an elegant, low-tech design intervention that uses relatively little material resources.

In the case of mismatched tableware, Marchand applies a semi-opaque red coating to the handles of a mixed array of cutlery, joining the ensemble through the creation of a family of objects.

With the very same principles at hand, Marchand devises an equally sophisticated solution for an assortment of old, battered, low-value dining chairs. While giving the disparate items an aesthetic continuity through the design of a simple slip-cover for the back of each chair, she enables this assortment of old products to be re-instated and re-valued.

Through her critique of the dominant Western notion of 'keeping up appearances', Marchand embarks on an exploration into alternative visual languages that consider principles of sustainability while offering objects a new lease on life.

Anne Marchand is currently acting as Professor at the École de Design Industriel, Université de Montréal.

Red Handle cutlery by Anne Marchand

Chair Covers by Anne Marchand

Chair Covers by Anne Marchand