STUDENT CHALLENGE Forbo X ENSCI

Beyond the traditional

ENSCI, the French national institute for advanced studies in industrial design, is providing master and research-level studies. "Les Ateliers" is the school’s nickname that represents the space rather than the institution, an 11,000 sqm loft space in central Paris, previously made up of specialist crafts workshops.

“Les Ateliers” echoes the traditional values of skill exchange and complementarity necessary for project teamwork, in both creative making and creative thinking. In its educational system, the school breaks with the academic model by placing creation at the heart of the industrial design process.

What stands out the most about this collaboration?

Endless iterations

A creation by Nino Gibert

In this project, Nino’s aim was to use Furniture linoleum not only on but also as an object. He wanted to create a piece of furniture that would be conceived entirely around the linoleum material and its structural characteristics. Nino decided to design a lamp, a familiar object around the desk that can take many different shapes.

In his research, he navigated between making solid blocks of layered linoleum and creating more free shapes. In his final design, he combines the two by presenting us a lamp made with layers of linoleum and composed out of two pieces, using one single mould. The construction allows creating endless iterations in size, shapes, and colours.

Making the material come to life

A creation by Malo Espercieux-Brimaud

‘Rivet’ is a collection of desk accessories for the office and for the reception desk. Instead of glue rivets are used to attach the Furniture linoleum to a folded metal sheet.

The linoleum and the metal sheet are connected only with a few rivets leaving space in between which can be used to sort and organize papers or postcards. Due to the tension created by this assembly technique, the linoleum becomes slightly curved, thus making the material come to life.

A foldable, transportable desk

A creation by Auxane Labourier

Bouleau is a desk with a top made out of a roll of Furniture linoleum. This concept is the result of Auxane’s research into rollable and transportable objects and plays with the paradox of the material's flexibility and rigidity.

The first object she made based on this principle was a bag folded from one single strip of linoleum and fixated with a system of tabs. From this, the idea derived to create a portable desk with a removable linoleum top.

As a final project, Auxane designed a foldable transportable metal desk with an easy to disassemble slab of Furniture linoleum as the top. A technically complex idea, but one that demonstrates in a beautiful way the properties of the Furniture linoleum. The design illustrates the sensitivity linoleum can bring through its duality of flexibility and rigidity.

Juice, the linoleum power strip

A creation by Constentin Roulau

What is the most useful object on a desk? A lamp? A computer? A phone? It's what keeps them alive at the same time: a power strip. Cold, hidden, standardized, very useful and yet so little used. The power strip could become an object as presentable as a lamp or a chair.

Linoleum is first and foremost a floor covering, and it is the daily life of those who install it. For them, linoleum has traditionally served as their office floor. Constantin drew inspiration from their daily lives and surroundings from this preliminary and hidden world that is that of the construction site. It inspired him to create shapes, colours, atmospheres, and a name. When looking for power on a construction site, we often say “I need juice”. Here is Juice, the linoleum power strip.

My little strip of linoleum

A creation by Corentin Martin

With an extensive series of skilfully crafted prototypes, Corentin presents playful scenarios for new and surprising applications of Furniture linoleum.

In his research, he explores the possibilities of the material by constraining strips of multi-layered linoleum with a wooden clamp thus creating various shapes. Working with the linoleum strips allowed him to gain a good insight into the flexibility and resistance of the material.

With these prototypes, the behaviour of the material defines a language of form that connects the workspace with the playground. The shapes easily adapt to different situations and uses, allowing the user to simply create his own structure.

The ultimate sustainable solution

A creation by Justine Tripard

By making grooves into the linoleum Justine was able to bend the material into tubular shapes. She experimented with different diameters, the number of facets, the folding angles and the junctions.

Based on the obtained findings Justine designed a stool that can be folded out of one piece of linoleum. The pattern has slots and tabs to lock the shape once it is assembled.

This efficient flatpack design offers the ultimate sustainable solution with minimal use of material. The faceted structure allows a rigid 3D shape while only using a single layer of 2.0 mm Furniture linoleum