Founded by Elodie Michaud and Rebecca Fezard, Hors-Studio is a multidisciplinary agency where design, craftsmanship and research meet. The studio’s projects reflect Elodie and Rebecca’s convictions: “Waste is a 21st-century resource. It has a place in a new cycle where innovation dialogues with craftsmanship and creativity with ecology. Combining ecology and artisanal heritage, the prize-winning, unique piece intrigues as much as it captivates.
The two laureates drew inspiration from the Loire Valley’s tufa stone to create Tufo, a side table that seems to have just emerged from a block of stone, embodying the work in progress with a unique, powerful aesthetic. The pair combined this rare creative gesture with ambitious innovation. Contrary to appearances, the table is not in tufa but Leatherstone©, a new material made of leather scraps mixed with a natural, biodegradable binder free of petrochemicals.
Leatherstone© is the result of five years of research and experimentation conducted jointly by Elodie and Rebecca, who also work with chemists on producing natural, biodegradable binders. This new material has all the technical and mechanical properties necessary for creating custom-made furniture. Here, it is used to wrap the very structure of the work, a salvaged wooden table. The project is challenging on two counts: recycling leather scraps, which account for some 15,000 tons of waste in France each year, and breathing new life into furniture that would otherwise become landfill. Tufo is not only a ground-breaking technological feat, but also a work of extraordinary craftsmanship.
