Elizabeth Chase Rochette reflects on designer Jean-Baptiste Fastrez’s latest series.

The designs of Jean-Baptiste Fastrez explore the boundaries between craft and industry, the organic and the manmade.  “I like to consider what objects actually are as opposed to what they are perceived to be, and thus to call into question ideas we might otherwise take for granted.”

Perhaps the best example of this concept is Fastrez’s recent Mask Mirrors collection. The elegant series is composed of acetate, an industrially stained plastic, which imitates tortoiseshell and various types of horn, usually produced in small strips for making jewelry and eyewear. Using the material in a new and unexpected context—namely, mirror frames—Fastrez provokes questions about its origins, or perhaps more precisely, about our perception of them.

The 28-year-old Parisian designer’s approach came into focus while he was studying at the ENSCI Les Ateliers. Initially, Fastrez concentrated on furniture design, placing himself at the crossroads of art, engineering, and industry. From this vantage point, he was inspired to expand into product design. Looking for opportunities to fuel his curiosity beyond school, he interned with famed French design duo Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec.

“Jean-Baptiste spent a couple of years at the workshop,” the brothers note, “just enough time to understand that he had something special, a great singularity, as has been confirmed in recent months.” For his part, Fastrez feels incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to work for the Bouroullecs. “I gained many invaluable insights into the design process during this period,” he says. “It was an inspiring experience.”

Fastrez graduated with honors in 2010. In 2011, his work won first place at Design Parade, an international competition in the South of France. His prize was the opportunity to develop a project with the world-renowned Galerie Kreo in Paris. Out of this collaboration, Mask Mirrors was born.

Asked how he decided to make mirrors for his project with Kreo, Fastrez readily admits that it was the suggestion of gallery co-owner Didier Krzentowski. “I thrive on constraints,” the designer explains. “They give me a framework within which to explore the concepts that drive my work.”

Fastrez chose to articulate the borders of the mirrors with acetate because, at first glance, the material appears to be so natural. But looking more closely, its seemingly organic pattern starts to look a bit too regular. The designer smiles as he recalls several inquiries about the work from people wearing tortoiseshell or horn-rimmed glasses.

Among other things, the quasi-natural appearance of the acetate evoked in Fastrez a sense of the primitive. This in turn gave rise to the idea of using large, oval panels of acetate to create mask-like frames for his mirrors. “Primitive art is a big source of inspiration for me,” says Festrez, who draws a connection between primitive masks of the kind his mirrors recall and the eyeglasses of today, which serve as a kind of contemporary mask.

Delighted with the outcome of their first collaboration, Krzentowski says, “The collection Mask Mirrors is truly fantastic. Jean-Baptiste took the codes of the 1930s and translated them into wonderful, contemporary pieces.” It is perhaps no surprise then that Fastrez’s collaboration with Galerie Kreo continues, this time with a series of tables, including the Totem console and the Stromboli coffee table, both made with—what else?—acetate.

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    Elizabeth Chase Rochette

    Elizabeth sharpened her eye for design as Assistant Curator at Cooper-Hewitt Museum and as a Furniture Specialist at Christie’s, both in New York. She now lives in Paris where she co-founded the collectable design consultancy Artecase.