Bureau Parade

What is the story of Bureau Parade ? SP: After studying at the Académie Charpentier in Paris, a School of Applied Arts specialized in graphic design, I worked some time at H5. After a few months in Paris, I moved to Bordeaux where I met Grégoire. He was a photographer, I was a graphic designer. At that time I had a gallery called Regala, which allowed us to do some projects together. I found Gregoire's photography very interesting. We immediately wanted to collaborate and make other projects together. This is how Bureau Parade was born. GG: Bureau Parade allowed us to make more personal projects and create a studio identity that didn't really exist in Bordeaux.

How is your network in Bordeaux organised ? SP: We have some clients with whom we are working a lot in Bordeaux : cultural institutions, or projects like the I.BOAT, a boat which is also a restaurant, a club and a performance hall, where different cultural events take place. However, we don't forget our Parisian clients, we are managing the art direction of the Steel magazine, and we are collaborating with Pierre Hourquet for La Fabrique du Regard, an educational platform of LE BAL. GG: We are also working on a project similar to the I.BOAT but located in Lyon. We have a client network which requests us quite regularly, this is why for the moment we don't really need to prospect. SP: The newly emerging city of Bordeaux may sometimes seems a little bit narrow-minded. Today, we feel that the city is changing on a cultural level. There are Design Schools, interesting organisations like La Fabrique Pola, a place dedicated to contemporary creation, visual arts and artistic production. We are an independent studio and a graphic designer/photographer duo, which is quite rare here. We are permanently doing research and we want to focus our projects on type design and publishing. We really want to take time to do things in the right way to assume a relevant work at a technical level.

Does your expertise in photography lead you to integrate it more easily in your projects ? GG: I think for us photography has in some ways replaced vectorisation and illustration : this is a means of setting the pace and having a trademark. It was very spontaneous to work with this type of medium, and as we had our own photo studio, it was quite natural for us… SP: We have two types of demands : the pure photographic order, such as the collaboration with the shoemaker Michard Ardillier here in Bordeaux. Then there are other projects in which photography will respond to a specific need and will provide a solution. We work with photography only if it is justified and useful. It requires a lot of upstream work and researches. This background work is an essential step for us. We also have a personal photographic production which allows us to try new approaches, to experiment.

How would you describe in more detail your collaboration with the I.BOAT ? SP: The I.BOAT team contacted us during the summer of 2012, shortly after the opening of the place. To set up the project, the team started to create a brand identity, which they ask us to completely revamp. We did all the brand identity of the first season, and then we continued to work with them in the following years. GG: What is particular about this project, is that they ask us to revamp the communication every year. It was a little bit difficult at the beginning because we didn't have a lot of time between each season, so we had to make easily applicable projects to fit all formats, in a very short time. It was very rewarding to work in places like this, having time or distribution constraints is a good exercise. Thanks to this project, we increased our visibility in Bordeaux. SP: The direction of the boat changed over time, its style too. Sometimes it seems a little bit chaotic, but we always try to make the project consistent. The I.BOAT wants to be known as a multidisciplinary place. What is really interesting with them, is that we have the chance to work both for specific music scenes, and film or artistic events… or even others that we can not even qualified. GG: The fact is that we sometimes would like to give rise to certain events, but it is not our role… the programming is in charge of it. SP: The good thing about this project is that we followed the project since its birth. It was very educative. Interview conducted in February 2016 ©ktlg