CIDER CATALOG
It is the place where we sweat, weep, laugh and achieve in unison, and where we witness our great efforts, small disappointments and greatest successes. From the Latin bellerum, bure in old French, the office is the fabric in which the weft of the company is woven. “What is civilisation if not the barracks, the office, the factory, the aperitifs and the bankers?” said Alphonse Allais. The office makes society, the office makes societies. But here we are. A coronavirus later, it is shunned, shunned, questioned, and in fact desired in a different way. After a few months of unprecedented global upheaval, it is difficult to plunge back into the social theatre of the company as if nothing had happened. The last few months of uncertainty and introspection have left an indelible mark on our minds, questioning our relationship to work, to the company, to each other, and in cascade to the space in which we interact.
There is no doubt that Cider will be able to play its furniture score in the face of the spatial challenges of the times. The spirit of the lines, the winks in the details, the roundness of the materials, the generosity of the colours, the subtlety of the uses and the intelligence of the combinations are all ingredients that appear in their collections and that will bring the extra soul and the intelligence of use that we are calling for. Neither a soothsayer nor a magician, I will not propose to guess the future of the office, but rather to outline some personal convictions – as a company director, as a woman who works as she lives, and as an activist – on the role it will have to play tomorrow.
Emmanuelle Duez, founder of The Boson Project.
