Jean-Baptiste Michel, designer
Born in 1961, Jean-Baptiste MICHEL lived in Le Corbusier's "cité radieuse" in Rezé les Nantes and was certainly sensitive to the "correct and magnificent play of volumes assembled under the light" (Le Corbusier)
The cité radieuse in 1961
He studied at the EFET school in Paris in the field of interior architecture and design.
Jean-Baptiste MICHEL then participates in international design competitions and receives a prize in Milan for a chair in high density polyurethane.
His projects touch very diverse fields, medical, computer, lighting, furniture ...
He experiments in a workshop with Plexiglas in a dialogue with works of art.
In 1993, he created his first necklace in acrylic and the following year created MIRAVIDI from the Latin word for "I have seen wonders", but also the name of a summit in Savoie in the Alps, the cradle of his family origins.
The first necklace
1976, on the MIRAVIDI
Jean-Baptiste MICHEL concentrates on writing shapes inspired by a contemporary and minimalist vision as well as a refined expression that translates the meeting between design and jewelry.
Ethereal and playful, his work on light and transparency translates an approach to design that is particularly characteristic of our time. Among his favorite materials, Acrylic (known under the brand name Plexiglas) allows a great freedom both in design and manufacturing (digital milling, injection, laser, forming ...) and its suitability for industrial and craft production. Its application in jewelry is particularly justified by the advantages that characterize it, lightness, transparency, color, solidity ..
Crystal, by the brilliance it communicates, wood in opposition to its raw aspect, metal, mother of pearl, leather...and other materials come to express the creativity of the designer according to the projects.
His influences in the world of design, architecture and fashion are numerous and varied:
The modern architecture with the Corbusier, Charlotte Perriand Eileen gray ...
The architecture and design of the 50s ...
The Italian design of the 80s with Achille & PG Castiglioni, Enzo Mari Gaetano Pesce, Vico Magistretti, Andrea Branzi ...
Fashion with Courrèges, Paco Rabanne…
Artists from the modern and contemporary art periods, Matisse, César, Judd, Stella…