The manifesto from the students at ESDAC

The fifteen schools at ESDAC (from the ACE Education Group) train young people for design careers by developing close links with companies. Its students are often immersed in real-life professional circumstances, and this will be the case yet again during Paris Design Week, of which the ACE Education Group is a partner. The students from ESDAC Paris, ESDAC Aix en Provence, and the ENAAI by ESDAC Chambéry, specializing in Applied Arts, Comic Arts, and Illustration, have designed several exhibitions in “pro” mode, especially for this event. The ESDAC Aix en Provence will take part in Design sur Cours by exhibiting a fountain at the Historic Library of the City of Paris on Rue Pavée in the Marais. The fountain is a symbol that’s dear to the heart of this Southern city. It was through conducting a survey among its inhabitants that these students chose this idea. To remain relevant, the twelve students in the Bachelor 2 program in Product Design designed an autonomous spring using recycled materials. “The ESDAC aims to train tomorrow’s designers », emphasizes their Director Kim-Lou Villeval. In addition, a Talk will take place at the Factory on the subject of the connections between design training, work life, and societal challenges. Their guest: industrial designer Fredéric Lintz, Co-Founder of Elium studio alongside Pierre Garner, who designed new reusable dishware for McDonald’s. 

Students will also have Galerie Joseph available to them on Rue des Minimes to show off their talent. There, you’ll see a selection of graduation projects based on the theme, “Enjoy!”, chosen by Lyly Petit-Fournier-Lemêtre, Brand Manager at ESDAC and Director of the Ecole de Paris. Right from the entrance, you’ll find the Oracle of Design, created by the students at ESDAC Paris. An Oracle is a card game that allows you to predict the future intuitively. In this specific case, it’s about helping you overcome “designer’s block”. The forty-two cards (numerological symbols for the great questions in life) represent archetypes or states of mind such as joy, dreams, anger, satisfaction, or amusement. The work of the twelve First Year Master’s students consists of conceptualizing and illustrating them, first through drawing, then in 3D, and finally, using artificial intelligence. The results are dreamlike, almost unreal. In addition to the large-format prints, the game will be produced and presented in a design-inspired box you can display at home. A QR code on each side will send you to a website where you can read the card’s interpretation and the story of its creator. Perfect! The students from ENAAI by ESDAC, supported by their Director David Soudan and educational manager Christophe Araldi, will offer an immersive experience in the basement that involves mapping, a projection technique that transports the viewer into another world. It will immerse visitors into the world of childhood, inspired by the theme “Enjoy!”, which they were briefed on by the Peclers trend agency. The pathway through this exhibition will include three stages, first a dreamlike physical and virtual space where you can touch and dream. The second area will conjure up images of superheroes, with all sorts of fantastical beasts. And the pathway finishes in a hut, a childhood place of refuge, that’s like a colorful bubble. Throughout the design process, students were accompanied by Julien Cuny of Pil’z Studio, a video-mapping professional, and Jennifer Rabatel, a graphic designer. It’s all about pros helping out future pros.