For over thirty years, brothers Daniel and Michel Bismut have been imbuing architectural space with their unique brand of radical luxury and elegance. Daniel Bismut answered a few questions.
The Kurator: What made you and your brother want to become architects?
Daniel Bismut: Our grandfather ran a cabinetry plant in Tunisia — one of the most renowned in North Africa — and our father was a sculptor and interior designer. Michel and I became familiar with design drafts at an early age and as we grew older we naturally gravitated toward architecture.
TK: Do you two have separate roles in your firm?
DB: No, not at all. We’ll work together to establish the broad outline of a project, then one of us will take over as the sole director to see it through to the end. For furniture design, we do a lot of exchanging of sketches.
TK: What is luxury?
DB: Nowadays, people associate luxury with a given brand name and the influence that brand is thought to have. I think about luxury differently, more conservatively perhaps, in that I believe it’s all about execution, expertise, and using noble materials. Bismut & Bismut doesn’t try to show off. We’re interested in volumes and light and how to strike a balance. Simple things go into making something luxurious.
TK: Looking back over the last thirty years, have your tastes changed in any surprising ways?
DB: When you’re young you’re prone to believe you’re always right, whereas when you get older, you relax a little bit. Now I see the quality and harmony of some interiors from the 1980s that I didn’t like at the time.
TK: Do trends have any effect on your work or your approach?
DB: Not really, but we do change over time. We’re working on things today that we never would have worked on in the past. The same goes for the materials we use. There’s something necessary about venturing into territory you’re less familiar with.
TK: Where does creativity come from for you?
DB: One time at the airport, the lead from my drafting pencil fell onto the white melamine table I was sitting at, and suddenly before me I saw a great idea for an appliqué pattern. Inspiration is everywhere, often right under your nose. In September, you’ll be showing a new furniture collection in Paris.
TK: What does furniture design mean to you?
DB: My mother collected furniture and I put a lot of effort into furniture design. I don’t own a lot of furniture, but the pieces I do buy stay with me forever. Some of the furniture I’ve designed I keep and it’s almost like a memento in a way.
