Bonnemazou Cambus
Paris-based design duo Manuel Bonnemazou and Agnès Cambus make unusual handles in eye-catching colours and bold shapes. We knock on their door to find out more.
Can you tell us a bit about your backgrounds? We are both product designers. After studying at Les Ateliers design school in Paris and the Beaux-arts in Toulouse, we started collaborating in 2004. We’ve worked together on many retail projects and private apartments, as well as items as diverse as packaging for the pastry chef Pierre Hermé to a wood burner for French brand Richard Le Droff.
What attracted you to designing door handles? While working in interiors, we became interested in decorative details, especially functional ones, such as door handles, which are often ignored. The design of these seemed to have been overlooked, so we decided to think more deeply about them. We were also very interested in mastering the entire production process, from the creation and manufacture of an object to its commercialisation.
Can you tell us a bit about your design process? Our personalities are complementary, enabling us to push each other along avenues that we might not have considered alone. First we draw the designs, then make a 3D model. Next come the mock-up and prototype stages, which allow us to manipulate the designs and resolve any mechanical challenges before the handles are realised.
Where do you find inspiration? In everyday objects, observing artisanal know-how, in the beauty of materials and, obviously, in fashion.
Which materials do you favour? All raw materials are beautiful, although we mainly work with brass, which offers a lot of possible finishes. We’re also starting to experiment with copper, which can produce a lovely a patina. What do you enjoy about exhibiting at design shows? Meeting people and explaining our approach. It gives us a lot of energy.
What are you working on next? We are continuing to design, evolving all the little details that make the difference to an interiors project.