Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec are brothers and designers based in Paris. Ronan Bouroullec (born 1971 in Quimper, Brittany) and Erwan Bouroullec (born 1976 in Quimper, Brittany) began working together in 1998 after completing their studies at École supérieure des Arts décoratifs in Paris and École nationale supérieure des Arts in Cergy. Their studio is based in Paris.
In 1997, they were spotted by Cappellini, giving them their first industrial design projects. They began working with the Galerie kreo in 2000 and had their first solo show there in 2001. Issey Miyake then hired them to design the boutique to house his new collection “A-Poc”. They met then Rolf Felhbaum, President of Vitra, and worked on a new office system entitled “Joyn”. Since then, they have gone on to work with Artek, Alessi, Axor Hansgrohe, Cappellini, Established & Sons, Flos, Hay, Kettal, Kvadrat, Kartell, Glas Italia, Ligne Roset, Magis, Iittala, Mattiazzi, Mutina, Nani Marquina, Samsung and Vitra.
Their work has covered many field ranging from the design of small objects as jewellery to spatial arrangements and architecture, from craftsmanship to industrial scale, from drawings to videos and photography. The designers also maintain an experimental activity with Gallery kreo, which is also essential to the development of their work.
Designs of the Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec are part of select international museums’ permanent collections such as the Musée National d’Art Moderne – Centre Pompidou and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Design Museum in London, and the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam. Several monographic exhibitions have been devoted to their work: “Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec” at the Design Museum, London (2002) and “Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec” at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2004), “Album” at the Vitra Design Museum (2012) and “Bivouac” at the Centre Pompidou Metz (2011) and then at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago (2012-2013). In 2013, the Arts Décoratifs, Paris presented “Momentané” and more recently they presented “17 Screens” at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (2015). In 2016, the city of Rennes showed their latest researches in 4 exhibitions in three different places (Frac Bretagne, Les Champs Libres and the Parliament of Bretagne). The Vitra Design Museum showcased the exhibition Reveries Urbaines.
A comprehensive monograph was released in 2012, Works, Phaidon Press. In 2013, under the art direction of Cornel Windlin, JRP Ringier published a 864-page paperback book called Drawing that collects more than 850 drawings that Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec made between 2005 and 2012. In the past, two monographs have been published : Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec published by Phaidon Press (2003) and Ronan et Erwan Bouroullec – Catalogue de Raison (Paris: Images Modernes / kreo, 2002).
Selected Exhibitions
Made in France, group exhibition, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 1997
Vases combinatoires, Galerie Neotù, Paris, 1997
Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, Galerie kreo, Paris, 2001
Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, Design Museum, London, 2002
Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 2004
Parois, Musée d’Art et d’Industrie, Roubaix, 2004
Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2004
Airs de Paris, group show, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2007
étapes, Villa Noailles, Hyères; MAC’s, Grand-Hornu; l’elac, Lausanne, 2008–2009
Lianes, Roches & Conques, Galerie kreo, Paris, 2010
Album, Arc en Rêve–Centre d’architecture, Bordeaux, 2011;
Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, 2012
Bivouac, Centre Pompidou-Metz, 2011; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 2012
Momentané, Les Arts Décoratifs, Paris (April 26 – September 1, 2013)
Lustre Gabriel, Château de Versailles, 2013
Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec. 17 screens, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, 2015
Rennes exhibitions, Rennes, France, 2016
– Reveries Urbaines, Les Champs Libres
– 17 Ecrans, FRAC Bretagne
– Retrospective, FRAC Bretagne
– Kiosque, Parliament of Bretagne
Ruutu vases Limited edition, Galerie kreo, London, 2016
Chaines, Galerie kreo, Paris, 2016
Reveries Urbaines, personal exhibition, Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, 2016
Selected Bibliography
Catalogue de raison, monograph, Images modernes éditions kreo, Paris 2002
Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, monograph, Phaidon Press, London 2003
Objets Dessins Maquettes, exh. cat., Archibooks, Paris 2008
Lianes, exh. cat., JRP|Ringier, Zurich 2012
Works, monograph, Phaidon Press, London 2012
Bivouac, exh. cat., Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz 2012
Drawings, JRP|Ringier, Zurich, 2013
Selected Public Collections
Centre Pompidou, Paris
Design Museum, London
Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris
Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam
The Art Institute, Chicago
The Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
