Camille Paillard and Romain Voulet at CP RV

In June of 2023, we visited Camille and Romain in their design studio CP RV in Marseille. Through these photographs, we provide a glimpse of 8 hours in their design process.

Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation de Marseille, built in 1945 and the first of its kind, is the space in which Camille and Romain work and live. True to the Modernist agenda, simplicity and modularity of the concrete building foreground the materiality of the structure and ensure that function remains at the forefront of design—an approach that also informs Camille and Romain’s practice.

CP RV carefully considers the affordances of materials to determine how best to put them to use. KGT, a simple container, plays off the lightweight and reflective properties of aluminum to be multifunctional: a tray, box, and a shelf. The newest addition to their collection is APLAT, a series of paper lamps, whose design and production process are documented in these photographs. Taking what is traditionally considered a two-dimensional medium, CP RV experiments with folds and wire frames to bring paper into the third dimension to play with light.

Camille and Romain wear Peter Wu’s SS denim line, sleeveless crochet top, 2-way work shirt, boardwalk T and water repellent 3rd street parka. The versatility and comfort of these garments match the broad range of tasks (from designing on the computer to physically making the lamps) and even changes in weather (from a sunny day to sudden downpour) that occur in just 8 hours of their day.