Based in New York, multidisciplinary artist and designer Pierre Yves Guenec focuses on the importance of master craftsmanship, combining and preserving centuries-old traditions through contemporary design. Formally trained in metalsmithing, he began his career as a craftsman, informing his design practice from a technical perspective.
Born in Nantes, France, in 1990, Pierre Yves Guenec grew up surrounded by artistic, literary, musical, and spiritual influences. After completing his education at the Ateliers de Sevres, he continued his studies at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts. However, dissatisfied with the program’s excessive rigidity and abstraction, he made a decisive departure to set his own path.
Motivated by a profound desire to learn by experience, Pierre Yves Guenec traveled across Europe, immersing himself in the world of furniture design and decorative arts. He collaborated with skilled craftsmen to comprehensively understand their trades and practices, spanning numerous countries, mediums, and cultures.
In 2016, he joined the esteemed Ateliers Saint Jacques, a non-profit cooperative of master craftsmen and workshops sharing the land of the Coubertin castle. Over six years of working alongside the revered art founders of Fonderie de Coubertin, Pierre Yves Guenec collaborated with design luminaries such as Mathieu Lehanneur, Noe Duchaufour-Lawrance, and Konstantin Grcic, as well as architects including Peter Marino, Joseph Dirand, and Jean Nouvel.
In 2022, Pierre Yves Guenec established his creative studio between Paris and New York. With a multidisciplinary approach, the studio explores environments from a spiritual perspective, transfiguring materials to reveal their inherent beauty. From furniture design to interior architecture, Guenec applies a thoughtful methodology to examine uses and archetypes, emphasizing the permanence of objects, the impact of spaces, and the potency of symbols. This approach has enabled him to establish a practice that effortlessly integrates centuries-old traditions with contemporary aesthetics, interwoven through the seamless combination of historical techniques and modern technology. Prioritizing the importance of fine craftsmanship, Guenec collaborates directly with master craftsmen, and each collection bears the co-signature of both the artist and the craftsmen.
The universe of Pierre Yves Guenec welds together centuries-old traditions and hypermodern aesthetics, all unified in the search for the absolute.