“Let’s imagine a grid. Each cell in that grid stands for an artistic discipline. I regard my own journey as the journey of a ball that rebounds from one cell to another, absorbing and accumulating the experience of that very journey. My deepest wish is to keep that ball endlessly rolling.” (Charles Kaisin)
Belgian architect and designer Charles Kaisin is a forerunner in the creation of works of sustainable contemporary design using recyclable materials. His works explore the processes that generate form. Indeed, with recycled materials Kaisin transforms used bottles into glasses, imagines and designs modular foldable furniture made of recycled newspaper and creates clothes and accessories from plastic bags … all in a dialogue leading to a new, alternative viewpoint on the life and death of common everyday objects.
As well as artefact designer, Kaisin is an interior designer and art director for fashion shows, having covered that role for Val Saint Lambert, as well as Project Manager for Hermann Miller. He’s also guest lecturer at the Hong Kong Design Institute and the Institut Superieur d’Architecture Saint-Luc in Brussels.
And it was he who Pascal Camia, director of gaming at the SMB, decided to call on to create an extremely ambitious project: to transform the hall of the celebrated Casinò de Monte Carlo into a magical, surreal world… And Kaisin responded by lining it completely with 1,400 squares metres of fabric with a red and white diamond motif, typical of Monaco’s coat of arms and card games, creating a truly psychedelic optical effect and furnishing it as if it were an apartment: master bedroom, library, roulette table, two dining tables, mirrors, a bar and even a bathroom complete with tub!
“Entering the hall of the Casino de Monte-Carlo has to be a memorable experience”, declares Camia. “An installation where to lose track of time and simply dream” explains Kaisin. Available for private dinner parties, the installation is open to the public (players, tourists and even children) for a cocktail, afternoon tea or simply for a visit, and will remain at the Casino until 7th January 2018.
