ALEXANDRA NOVO: How did your fascination with hand blocked wallpaper and your interest in reviving 18th and 19th century techniques come about?
FRANÇOIS-XAVIER RICHARD: Hand block printing techniques are found at the intersection of the worlds of engraving, paper, painting, graphic design, books and objects. And all through the same medium: paper. What fascinated me, even though I didn’t realise it at first, was paper itself, hence the notion of “ennoblisseur de papier” (an ennobler of paper).
The interaction between paper and interior architecture is the real focus of my research. As for ancient techniques, I’m drawn to the carnal power they offer in a digitalised world. Just like paper, an ancient material and incubator of culture.

Research plays an important role in the studio’s activities. In addition to age-old techniques, what innovative techniques have been introduced? How do they fit in with contemporary applications in the arts and interior design? We hope to offer a different approach to paper in decoration, making art, design and craftsmanship intertwine without taboos, promoting dialogue between the object and the wall, intelligence and the hand. Through a boundary-free exploration of the material — paper — we strive to find a specific meaning, a language, a story that we want to tell about human beings, for human beings. To give body to thought, to the imagination, is almost an innovation in this day and age.
We also try to meet social expectations about the way we consume and perceive the world, adopting an ecological approach in the spirit of sustainability. Ancient techniques, approached with a contemporary eye, become innovative and surprising. We like to transgress certain codes, which are often unnecessary.

The artist residency at Villa Kujoyama in Kyoto focused on the sounds of paper. What did this approach/intervention consist of? Does paper have a soul? What meaning lives behind that sound? Paper is the veiled mirror of our soul. Paper is a confidant, the skin of our imagination, of our thoughts. I recognise its mystical power. Sound is a way of exploring the fibre of paper, of reaching into the source of our memory, our imagination.
The paper organ is a sound space that offers paper architecture to various artists (musicians, actors, video makers, visual artists, dancers) to explore their language.