Essentiel

Camille Chassagne is a French graphic designer with a deep interest in minimalism expressed through his work of branding, editorial design, set design, and photography. It is Camille’s work in the latter discipline that sees us celebrate her striking Essentiel series.

The ultimate aim of all artistic activity is building.

—Walter Gropius

Essentiel is a photographic homage to Bauhaus. It explores Camille’s interest in the movements of functionalism and minimalism, and aims to capture key concepts through a graphic translation of architectural vocabulary. These photographs interpret the theories underlying these movements through a series of geometric landscapes.

I realised these nine architectural compositions with an eye for economy, following the tenet of ‘less is more.’

Five rectangular wooden prisms, painted in black and white, and a metal gate, are enough to create infinite abstractions. The strong light allows the objects to become geometric shapes whose shades run from pure black to bright white. The texture of the materials is minimised, for a purer focus on form. The background acts as part of the visual balance as its emptiness frames the space.