Biography

Matali Crasset was born in 1965 in Châlons-en-Champagne. Her parents are
farmers and she spent her childhood in Normée, a small village of 80
inhabitants. After her graduation at the E.N.S.C.I. workshops in 1991, she
participated in the Milan Triennial with her project "Domestic Trilogy", a
set of three appliances diffusing warmth - whispers and intimacy -, light -
images and memories -, and water - scents and swirls.
She first stayed in Milan where she worked with Denis Santachiara on
architecture and design projects, and on the organization of exhibitions.
Back in Paris, she began working with Philippe Starck at the Agency and for
Thomson Multimedia, where she stayed five years and became head of Thomson's
design centre, Thim Thom. In 1998, she founded her own company.
Her reflection on domestic and urban rituals inspired her to create objects
and furniture for Artemide, Authentics, Cristal Saint-Louis, Delta, DIM,
Domodinamica, Domeau & Perès, Dornbracht, Edra, LaCie, Lexon, Möve, nekt
/Pantone-Universe, Néotu, Orangina, Peyroulet & cie, Ricard, Sam Laïk, Seb,
s.m.a.k., ThomsonS?, and to design a street furniture project, ?The empathic
chair?, for which she received a grant form the Sandberg Institute in
Amsterdam

In 1996, thanks to the V.I.A., she could freely develop her domestic office
furniture project, "W at hôm?, an evidence of her deep interest in new
technologies. In 1997, she was awarded the Grand Prize for Design of the
city of Paris, and was chosen by the Sue Ryder Foundation to design the
church furniture for the "Maison de Marie" chapel in Lourdes. In 1998, she
received a F.I.A.C.R.E. grant from the Ministry of Culture to help her
develop her project for an "autogenous design". In 1999, she was awarded the
"Grand Prix de la Presse Internationale de la Critique du Meuble
Contemporain". In 2000 and 2001, she designed the interior of a private
villa in Nontron in the Dordogne and, together with professionals of the
artistic milieu, she imagined "Pol'arisation", the future furniture for the
Experimental Center of Artistic Professions.

Matali Crasset has worked on numerous exhibitions. She has designed the
exhibition scenography for the shows ?Paris-Milano? and ?Bulb? organized by
Intramuros, and for ?Wash the future? at the Espace Carole de Bona, and she
is the creator of the "Morroccan Bar" of the exhibition "Le Maroc
Désorienté" at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Furthermore, she has imagined
a touring exhibtion for the Comité Colbert and the Camif in 1999, and in
2001, has conceived a show on the famous Hermes silk "carré" in the United
States, and designed the "Archilab" show in Orléans. She is in charge of
the "Première Vision" forum since 1999, has designed the "Who's next"
(1998/2000) and "Première Classe" shows (2000), and the ?Extra trend show
: open? at the "Tendence" fair in Frankfurt in 2000. In 2002, she has
created the installation ?Casaderme?, the house that breathes, for the
Pitti Immagine Uomo show in Florence, an experimental bathroom project
?Update/ 3 spaces in one? for Dornbracht, on display at the Ulrich Fieder
gallery in Cologne, and has designed the scenography for the Hermes
exhibition "Cheval, figure d'espace" in Moscow.

Matali Crasset is regularly invited to design schools as a visiting
lecturer, in France (Ecole des Beaux-arts, Bordeaux and Reims, Les Ateliers,
Paris) and abroad (Danmarksdesignskole, Copenhagen, Domus Academy, Milan,
Ecal, Lausanne, Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam).
In 2001, she began exploring the new field of interior design: the
advertisement agency Red Cell in Paris, her own home and workshop, and a
private villa near Annecy. She also created the interior design of a
high-class hotel in Nice, "Hi. hôtel". She is currently working on a project
for a pigeon house commissioned by the Fondation de France, in Caudry in the
Nord-Pas-de-Calais.

Several works by Matali Crasset are included in the permanent collections of
public museums.
The Fonds National d'Art Contemporain has purchased the radio cassette
player ?Don-O?, a Saba television, ?The empathic chair?, ?Icipari?, ?When
Jim Comes to Paris", ?Téo from 2 to 3?, ?Nextome?, ?Faked angora?, and the
collection ?Digestion?. The Centre Georges Pompidou also owns a ?Don-O?
radio cassette player, ?Icipari? and ?When Jim Come to Paris?. The Museu do
Design - collection Francesco Capelo in Lisbonne has purchased furniture and
objects, ?Expanded bench? is in the collection of the Fonds Départemental
d?Art Contemporain de la Seine-Saint-Denis. ?Arfican" belongs to the
collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.