Antonin Mongin presented his work as part of the Domestication of technology talk series on 10 mai 2023 at ENS. His presentation was entilted "L’artisanat d’art du cheveu coupé: Le cheveux comme matière à création d'une recherche par la pratique du design textile" like his thesis. After a short oral presentation he invited students to examine and touch some of it's creations and answered questions.
Biography
Antonin Mongin holds a doctorate in design and describe himself as a textile researcher-designer-craftsman. He completed a SACRE thesis at ENSADLab in 2022.
The art of working with hair
Antonin Mongin introduced his presentation with a historical perspective on the craft of cut hair art. This ancient romantic practice of creating sentimental objects flourished in the 19th century before disappearing. Its decline is thought to be due to the arrival of photography as a new memory practice, but also to the loss of made-to-measure work with the arrival of catalogs of hair objects. Two techniques stand out in cut-hair craftsmanship: braiding and collage (on glass, paper or wood) of powdered hair. The objects created are used to commemorate memories such as funeral scenes or scenes from life (fishing, weddings, communions...).
Bibliography
- CHANLOT, Andrée, 1986. Les ouvrages en cheveux: leurs secrets. Paris: A. Chanlot : Diffusion, Editions de l’Amateur. ISBN 9782950112217.
- MONGIN, Antonin. L’Artisanat d’art du cheveu coupé : Le cheveu comme matière à création d’une recherche par la pratique du design textile. Online. Paris : Paris sciences et lettres, 2022. Available from: https://softmatters.ensadlab.fr/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/PV2022-MONGIN.pdf