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Hors Pistes

The project created by French designers Marie Douel and Amandine David for the 30th anniversary of Grand-Hornu question the themes of heritage and transmission.

The themes of heritage and transmission are being given pride of place this year for the 30th anniversary of Grand-Hornu.

The “Hors Pistes” project, created by French designers Marie Douel and Amandine David, question these two notions by bringing together artisans, designers, photographers and graphic artists from various cultures.

“Hors Pistes” initiates creative encounters through workshops, which enable young designers to discover foreign traditional techniques, and give artisans the chance to develop their know-how by diversifying their fields of application. These workshops encourage the transmission of know-how between trades, but also pose the question of the heritage of traditional techniques and their futures, by proposing a reformulation of their traditional know-how. For its first event, “Hors Pistes” went to Ouagadougou from 1st September to 15th October 2013. Over the forty-five days, European designers worked with Burkinabese artisans to create objects that combined each individual’s specialist knowledge.

Marie Douel and Amandine David, "Hors Pistes", Grand-Hornu

Life in the workshops throughout the event was interspersed with moments of joy as the pieces took shape and emerged from the earth, trepidation when the technique did not comply with the deadlines and touches of magic when the material itself suggested the project. The hybrid, improbable result stands at the crossroads of the two cultures. The exhibition in Grand-Hornu presents the process of exchange alongside the objects, photographs and silk-screen prints resulting from this first “Hors Pistes” experiment.