An Aesthetic Conversation with Sam Baron

Photo by Luis Coelho

Sam Baron is an independent designer and consultant for international groups such as Louis Vuitton, L'Oreal, Benetton, De Beers, and the French jewelry designer, Dinh Van. It was a pleasure to discuss with Sam about culture and what he wishes his audience takes away from his pieces and exhibits.

UZOMAH: A lot of artists know when they wanted to become one when was that for you?

SAM: I think that it was quite early, as I remember that as a kid some “normal” stuff was not making sense for me and that I was seeing the world in a “different” way ;) I was a very dreamy person, having difficulties to focus on some basic real moments that were not enlightening to me…

(and  I was also speaking to flowers in a kind of secret language!)

U: When did you feel comfortable calling yourself and having others refer to you as an artist?

S: The fact of being a designer, artistic director, or artist comes with what the people are doing and how their creativity has an impact. So I would say that when I was halfway in my art studies when I started to feel comfortable… when I had found my own expression was the moment to be called so or to wear that hat!

How has the culture and art history and simply the artistic aura of France and other countries you have been a resident of influenced your art process?

S: I believe that as a creative person we are absorbing a lot of inputs continuously during our daily life. We then associate them in a personal way according to specific stimuli that are given to us, when we are asked for a project, when we need to express/phrase an idea. So yes, I am French and this is a rich base in my life, but to have worked and lived abroad very early has enriched “my” culture/database/references.

We have the art de Vivre in France and yes this is a big stone in the way we live together, move and behave. The nice thing with these cultural habits and details is also to be able to distance yourself,  and analyze and make a laugh of them and see if they are essential to you!

U: How do landscapes and other outside forms and shapes play a role in how you construct your art?

S: I think that landscapes are a perfect set up for great thinking. I see them more as a moment, as a background… they are spaces to let my mind flow and fly back and forth – almost as a theater or opera scenario where something is happening.

” Venus” side tables for Pierre Frey

U: When you are designing an installation what kind of questions do you want to be provoked and be answered for the audience?

S: It depends on the context, but what I want is to strike the viewer's eyes. From there, then starts a personal mind journey for each of the visitors as it might ring some bells, which are never the same, or at least never in the same order. What I want is that the sensitive (see, touch, listen, smell…) journey and create a new memory, a feeling that is unique.

U: Has there ever been a project after you were finished, found there were things you wanted to change? If so, which one(s)?

S: This happens more in the phase of the installation, the styling, the final set up - as we think, design and produce some pieces which sometimes in their final “location” takes a different breath. The space around them creates a different atmosphere and sometimes we need to adjust the way they are “behaving”.

U: Being a mentor to Fabrica’s designers can you tell what that was like for you?  How important is having a mentor? What were some things you focused on in helping future designers find their own artistic voice?

S: It is about having a true relation, being surprised by each other, being able to question and re-think, to look for something richer because you have the help of the other. It is a kind of new language that you need to be open enough to dive into, lose yourself, (re)learn, and then phrase things differently. We all have some reference points coming from some “coup de Coeur” that we could have had while studying or visiting museums – with a mentor.. you can understand them better as someone is pushing you to question what, why, how…

U: Have you ever read a book, or seen a movie, heard a song, or read a poem that inspired any of your work?

S: There is a French classic book that is in my mind since ever – Une Vie from Maupassant. The way that situations and objects or even small details are described and depicted is amazing. For example, there are some lines about a porcelain cup found in the attic which is a bit broken: this object creates “rewind” memory moments in the head and the heart of Jeanne the principal character. While reading the paragraph you almost feel the smell of the room and the thickness of the decorated porcelain cup in her hands!

“toi&moi” Confident Chair for Drucker

U: What are you currently reading and listening to music-wise?

S: I am reading Design as an Attitude from Alice Rawsthorn and listening to Portuguese classic music radio.

U: Can you tell the details of what a day is like in the  studio for you?

S: This depends on the coming projects. Nowadays what we do is to embrace one by one & fully the projects straight away from their beginning in order to go the deepest in them and have them as much as possible understood, sketched, and almost “resolved/done”. The stand-by situation is not existing anymore as we might be not sure of how it is going to be, or what is the “tomorrow flow”!

U: What are you currently working on?

S: Besides taking care of Pierre Frey furniture section art direction, which is a long term and continued mission in order to impose the 3 generation brands (well known for fabrics, wallpapers and carpets) into the furniture industry, I am doing some tableware decorative glass objects for a French brand & some pieces for a collective exhibition part of the Lille Design Capital program.

U: What are some things you have to have in the studio that are a necessity to your creative process?

S: A sketchbook and a pencil! Having been a furious traveler for years you learn about your essentials ;)

"bouquet de tables" for Cristina Grajales

U: How do you think reading something prepares one to visually see what the writer is saying as opposed to how a visual artist presents a work of art to the viewer? What are the major differences for you or similarities?

S: When a writer “creates/composes/designs” a situation, it is through describing it. This moment taking place in a specific location composed of words. Of course, words don’t have the same meaning or represent the same image for all of us, but the strength of a writer is to put the right ones together to make sure that the final sentence is going to create the perfect frame, picture, and the atmosphere in which he/she wants the reader to get.

When we place an object or a piece in an environment, we let it open for personal interpretation or reading. For example, a container can be seen as a fruit bowl, as a vase, as a religious artifact, or a sound resonance cavern… the physical presence of it drives more not to say or impose itself to the viewer while the reader has more room to make his own interpretation of what he is reading… 

“feuillade” for Passa ao futuro/Fress fondation

U: What is the concept behind Sam and Co? How does your creative process differ from working for yourself to working for another company?

S: When we work for a company we have to find a common language that makes the magic happen, bring fluidity between both sides/parts and that connects the minds.

It is about going toward the others to make something unique that answers well to their needs. While working on personal projects it is more about a solo ping-pong of ideas or let’s say a more personal and intimate way to compose a collage, by associating details, functions, textures, symbols, reminiscences or more futuristic attitudes altogether.

U: Can we really define art and if so what would be your definition of what art means to you?

S: Art is a practice, art is an essential, art is a power, art is for all, and art is beyond…….

For more updates on Sam’s work please visit his website, or his Instagram and Fabrica.