Live More Work Less, JDSA Paris opening

Live More Work Less is an exhibition of architecture and experimental furniture by Julien De Smedt to celebrate the opening of JDSA Paris. For this exhibition, the 320m² of the entirety of Vie Projects and Studios has been taken over by photography of Julien De Smedt’s architecture, captured by Belgian photographer Julien Lanoo. These works are displayed alongside an entirely new set of furniture created for Live More Work Less. The theme of Live More, Work less, emerged when the architect began working from home during COVID. Naturally, the theme emerged, which questions how we can combine these often two separate sides of inhabitation. When De Smedt began thinking about these projects, he was personally in need of an entirely new set of furniture, having just moved to an empty apartment in his former home base of Copenhagen from a summer residence in Sweden. He began to build the pieces himself that responded to this new way of living under confinement. Among the pieces created during this period, was a cornerstone: a dining table that combined his work desk “without the hassle of clearing my desk every time I had a meal with my sons or friends” as Julien said. The desk was cleverly topped by a pivoting dining plateau. When open, the underside of the plateau functions as a work organizer and the lower deck has room for a laptop and all essentials of a work desk. A more recent piece designed for the show in Paris is Cocoon: a two-times 2-meter-long sofa for informal meetings that folds onto itself to offer an escape and resting place away from the hectic pace of the office and lets you nap or meditate. “At home, it can be a fun place for kids, an improvised actual guest room or even a quiet space for online meetings.” Throughout the space, there is also a series of rotating storage and display columns for books, artworks, music video media, and plants. Their slender, vertical, floor-to-ceiling nature gives them a resonance to the architecture they inhabit. Finally, on display is a carpet ‘Financial Crush’ made in collaboration with Urban Fabric, a Canadian carpet maker known for its finely crafted, bespoke, sustainable rug designs. This piece is not only a visual masterpiece, but also a thought-provoking piece of social commentary. Drawing inspiration from mapping, anthropology, economics and politics, these designs invite reflection on the trajectory of our society - exploring themes of capitalism and environmental responsibility. All the pieces made for Live More, Work Less are created as made-to-order products.