Cadence – modern school & classroom furniture by students of the École Bleue in Paris

Your school furniture was shown at Paris Design Week 2021. Please tell us how that came about?

To support the contest and the students, the national furniture and the campus of excellence of arts have decided to exhibit the projects for the design week, and thus expose to the public the answer given by a young generation of future designers to the question of the interpretation of school furniture.

Were you free to design the classroom furniture as part of the competition, or were there any specifications regarding content?

The National Furniture Competition is a competition set up by the Campus d’Excellence des Métiers d’Art et du Design in partnership with the National Furniture. It is a contest set up for the great design schools of Paris.

As Students at the École Bleue in Paris, one of the partners for this contest, we had the opportunity to participate this year in the edition, the subject was «rethinking the school of tomorrow». Several spaces were to be rethought: the classroom, the playground, the hallways. We chose to work on the classroom issue.

How did you go about designing the school furniture?

At the beginning of our project, we were able to speak with directors and students of middle schools and thus define our specifications.

Following these exchanges, we decided to focus on school furniture in the classroom in order to design a range that answers questions of well-being and mobility within the classroom.

What makes your classroom furniture different from other school furniture on the market?

To answer the question about mobility and well-being, we designed a range of moving furniture, which adapts to the students and teachers, throughout the day. To do this, we designed the Cadence range around two constructive systems, the screw, and the compass.

The chair Cadence is on screw which allows it to adapt to the size of its user, the backrest and the seat are on rubber pads to ensure optimal comfort.

The Cadence table is equipped with a compass system that allows it to fold back and ensure different positions to respond to all the scenarios encountered by the student during the day. The table is also equipped with a cap that also accompanies students during the day, as locker, as book rest, easel, or a lectern. The Cadence table allows the class to adapt to the different school subjects, the students no longer need to change class, it is the class that comes to them.

Did you have already a chance to ask kids about your classroom furniture?

Unfortunately, we did not have the chance to present our school furniture to children, we would love to do it in the future.

And last but not least: Where and what did you studied and what was particulary formative for you?

We are all four in master 1 in global design (interior, products, and visual communication) at the École Bleue in Paris, we are at the beginning of our professional life, in internship in different Parisian agencies.

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