Sense in Utility

This is the first art book to focus on the relationship between creators of acknowledged talent and their work with important companies; it highlights one of the most significant aspects of French creation within the corporation.

Sense in Utility is above all a report.

Important changes have taken place in post-industrial society, inciting corporate leaders to take into account the need for strong product identity. Consumers' attitude towards the object has changed. The object must fulfil more that just a function, it must also meet a cultural need.

Today, profitability requires meeting the challenge, it demands a new attitude. The stakes are real. Companies are invested with an educational and cultural role; they create the objects we find in our environment. Their encounters with designers who are able to 'think' the object in a different way, giving it a new sense, is therefore of utmost importance.

That is what Sense in Utility wishes to show, by presenting the productive dialogue established between 9 companies and 9 designers.

This is the first book to focus on the relationship between these two actors; its purpose is not to prove a theory, it is to underline a fact and to initiate a reflection on the influencing role of creation within the corporation.

The strength of these exceptional encounters, together with their social, economic and cultural consequences, allows us to give a new outlook of their environment to curious and attentive audiences.

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Introduction of the book

This is the first art book to focus on the relationship between creators of recognized talent and their work with important companies. In nine cases studies, the book highlights one of the most significant aspects of french creation inside the corporation.

This work was selected for presentation in French cultural center abroad by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

9 Companies - 9 Creators was also featured :

. As an award for winners of national trophies for innovation on November 25, 1992.

. In a travelling art exhibition Sens in Utility, organized by the Association Française d'Action Artistique and the Centre d'Art Contemporain de Vassivière in the Limousin. This exhibition was presented under the auspices of the Regional Industrial Creation Center of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Since 1994, it has been shown abroad.

. In an ongoing Training program, Design Management, for top managers, organized by E.S.C.P. and sponsored by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the Paris Chamber of Commerce.

. As the basis for a discussion group during the eighth week of the Ecole Superieure de Commerce in Paris on
May 13, 1993.

. A collection of documentary films Stories of Objects (52 minutes) co-producted by the Centre Pompidou, Les Films d'Ici, Creative Agent Consultants, the C.N.C., the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Délégation aux Arts Plastiques, broacoasted by the french T.V. channels Paris Première and La Cinquième.

. The itinerant exhibition Photographing the Object (Marc Guillaumot's photographs) organized by the Association Française d'Action Artistique.

. DVD Rom stories of objects, edited by TF1 video, including a pedagogical bonus by the CNDP of the Ministry of National Education, Short Stories of Objects, a 13 minutes adaptation of the Movies To Work, To Sit , Objects of the Table , To Light for the children