Design Residency In Cambodia Diving into the culture and tradition of local craftsmanship.

Alicja Stąpór talks to Mathilde Bretillot – artistic director of the International Design Expeditions (IDE), during the Cambodia residency. International Design Expeditions hosts expeditions enabling collaboration between international designers and local enterprises, this time in Cambodia. Mathilde with the IDE team and the three invited designers: Anne Xiradakis, Alicja Patanowska and Camillo Bernal, are exploring the possibilities of diving into the culture and tradition of craftsmanship in Cambodia. They live and work by the rhythms of the local environment. They create design objects that bear the stories and ambiance of the surrounding culture. By this expedition IDE creates an opportunity for young designers to confront challenging real-life situations on the ground, with the support of local experts. 

Alicja Stąpór: What brought the IDE project to Cambodia? 

Mathilde Bretillot: Originally the idea for this expedition arose from Pierre Balsan, who is responsible for business development in the IDE team. Pierre has lived in Asia for the past 30 years and is now based in Cambodia. We have been having conversations with Pierre about cultural and economic development in Cambodia, and through brainstorming, we slowly shaped our ideas around promoting this destination – where both the local people and our international designers have the chance to learn from each others’ unique craft cultures. 

AS: Can you explain the preparations for this trip? 

MB: As in every preparation, there is a complex network of stakeholders which we combine to reach harmonious fluidity as an adventurous and secure team. We always try to enhance the importance and value of traditional and local craftsmanship. First and foremost, it involves being in close collaboration with a local partner, in this case, Beyond Retail Business (BRB) whose business and core value is Cambodian craft and its future. They were able to identify and recruit the ceramists and the chefs in Cambodia to partner with us during this expedition. We were also supported by the French Institute in Cambodia who selected our CERAMIC & FOOD ROUTE expedition to be part of their yearly program Vent d’Asie, as well as the support of Pernod Ricard Cambodia. On the international side, it involves support and financing from public institutions and private sponsors. These partnerships are essential to us and it is always a process to find people willing to support our ideas. However I believe, each time, it is truly gratifying for both sides. 

AS: What are the things that you are learning from experiencing the culture in Cambodia? 

MB: The local relation to life is strongly inspired by buddhist philosophy. This puts us in front of a very welcoming and engaging culture, but on the other hand, it is all so organic that sometimes it is difficult to manage things from ‘A to B’ as we usually do. The rhythm of the everyday is just so different, and we have to settle down within it. We are based in Siem Reap, the city of Angkor and this has been very inspirational to us. The architecture of the city, its sculptural beauty, the symbols that surround us everyday – these are the things that feed our senses into creativity. 

AS: Can you describe your day-to-day activities there? 

MB: It’s a daily balance between visits to temples, floating villages, museums and food markets, and of course long hours in the ceramists studios. All done by Rickshaws or walking. We wake up early to start around 7.30am and stop around 5pm. Our daily hours are dictated by the daylight, when we finish it is just the moment in the day when the sun sets down. We are quite exhausted by the intensity and pace, the heat and the humidity so at the end of the day, we try to relax in the facilities of the surroundings. Every evening we discuss what is going to happen the next day, our visits and workshops. And then everyday brings a new surprise; it is fascinating to experience the unexpected adventures and see how our designers, individually and as a group, react to those occurrences. In fact, everyday is an adventure and I am so happy to live in the moment with all these amazing people. 

AS: Could you tell us more about the designers? What made you choose them for this Cambodia trip? 

MB: Alicja is a Polish Ceramist artist who does important work addressing philosophical issues. She is very lively and communicative; she really binds the group together. Camillo is young and extremely invested in all the various work he takes on, with an accurate sense and comprehension of the context, the situations, and the people.He challenges know-how and forms with a very creative mind, pushing the limits.

Anne has a long experience of working side by side with chefs. In her practice, she is very focused on the details of the objects she creates. This focus on detail in her practice comes along with her attentive observations of the world, which is most interesting to observe while being around her and seeing her work. 

While they all have very different backgrounds and professional experiences, all of them have a vast appetite for the unknown and exploring possibilities. Along with myself and Marc Bretillot, I believe we create a one of a kind team. 

AS: Can you tell us about the design objects you are working on in Cambodia? What stories do they bear? 

MB: The objects are designed with typologies of use and a symbolic approach. They are about sharing spirits between animals and humans, big or tiny containers to receive complex recipes of many mixed ingredients and flavors. Holding this Cambodian organic harmony, they are extremely vibrant. Some objects are inspired by ornamental details and others by space and architecture. 

AS: How does the environment of expedition affect the creative process of designing objects? 

MB: The designers are working all together. There isn’t really any space to hide. I am sure they feel quite exposed. Designing, questioning and truly improvising in the studios, the process becomes almost like a performance. There is not much room for hesitation or testing, the prototypes are the final results, and for our designers, this represents an entirely new way of working. 

AS: What are the necessities that you cannot imagine this trip without? 

MB: We couldn’t dream of doing it without:

• Time given by the local ceramists, who are willing to collaborate with us 
• Good team spirit
• The curious minds of our team 
• The vibrant Cambodian energy empowering our designs