Inspiration, 1st step in creating the Union Collection
You couldn't have missed it, the beautiful ones have been revealed to you and the excitement about this new collection has exceeded our expectations! Despite the excitement of this launch, I wanted to take a few moments to tell you the genesis of the Union Collection. This introduction is the first of three parts on the House's design process before the (long-awaited) launch of pre-orders.
Coherence
Several months ago, I was asked a rather dreaded question: “So, what will the new collection be like?” ". The demands of this new creation really appealed to me: how can we offer even more surprise while keeping Beaubleu's own identity? Who will these new watches be aimed at? How can we integrate community expectations? I won't hide it from you, the task was daunting! However, before throwing myself onto a sheet of paper to scribble down my first intuitions, I crisscrossed Paris... A few antique dealers in Clignancourt, furniture galleries on Rue de Seine, automobile parts from the 60s to the present day, plush apartments du Marais and a few restaurants in the 11th arrondissement, as many places as were needed to create this common thread that would follow the entire collection. This is when consistency must arise.
So I imagined this watch as an interior. From one room to another, the appearance remains unchanged thanks to the combination of so-called hot and cold materials. The warmth of a raw wooden table surrounded by a piece of brass, a velvet sofa accompanied by a marble coffee table or a glass light fixture on a lacquered pedestal table, all these contrasts which play with our senses for our greatest pleasure.
As often, we have the same vision as our ambassadors. The desire to bring color has therefore become obvious. “So a nice blue one? » (And no, you are not the first to have done this to us). But which blue? What other colors? To keep the vibrant and warm side of interior design, I started to stock up on velvet and satin to find inspiration with “deep” colors, those that tell us things.
Inspiration: putting it into practice
Once the common thread is established, it becomes very complicated not to put the first ideas on paper while storing new materials, images or illustrations on the work table. We try to put our first inspirations to the test of time, to know if we don't get tired or if the desires still hold up, whether we are more or less in the mood. A long and sometimes tedious process that must not be neglected, otherwise weariness will reach your wrist - and you know it only too well - this is absolutely out of the question!
Then, I compiled the final inspirations, then I mixed them: a velvet with a polished or sandblasted steel, a green with a Soulage paint or a grained paper on a black lacquer. And without a stroke of a pen, the models drew themselves (almost) themselves.
Thus, the inspiration stage is coming to an end, but it will remain on the wall of our Studio until the production phase of the prototypes, chosen by the community.
This stage was (of course) watered down with the team around a little Nikka Coffee Grain and the next day, serious things resumed with the start of the creation stage.
Now I'll see you next week for the second creation part of the Union Collection. We will talk about drawing and composition (phase which lasted more than 6 months).
Wishing you wonderful hours,
Nicolas, Beaubleu designer