Design, Tout Simplement
Published on 30 December 2021
Based in eastern France, Tout Simplement designs everyday objects as well as bespoke pieces for major brands and museums. Is that it? Well, not quite.
It may be snowing outside in this mountainous region of the French Jura, but these four women are perfectly cosy as they work quietly away indoors. Young mother and watchmaker Christelle methodically assembles metal pins depicting the sun and the moon for the Solar and Lunar pieces designed by Constance Guisset, while Monique, Gaby and Anne-Marie work on finishing magnets and bookmarks made of finely worked metal and inspired by works of art, to be sold in leading museums. This is how the pieces sold by French brand Tout Simplement, which produces home accessories, jewellery and bespoke metal creations for luxury brands and major institutions, are produced. The company was founded by designer and entrepreneur Philippe Ferreux, who, thanks to his deep connection to the region in which he was born, has successfully exploited the multitude of traditional skills still alive in this valley on the Swiss border, including woodworking for the toy industry and metalworking for the watch-making and eyewear industries. When he initially came up with the idea of producing and selling his own pieces, Philippe named the brand Tout Simplement (‘Quite Simply’) because “there’s nothing more complicated than keeping things simple”.
“I can now say that it was Maison&Objet that created my company”
His initial inventions were small utilitarian objects made of wood, which he produced at a friend's carpentry workshop, before going on to create the Pince-mi, a clip for sealing bags, and the I-cone, a stand that could be used to display a photo or place card. In September 2001, with four small collections in his portfolio, he exhibited his work at Maison&Objet. “I knew that that was where it all happened”, he now reveals. The designer kept his small business going for several years while supplementing his income with design assignments for other brands, but the turning point came ten years later, in fact, when Philippe came across a manufacturer of high-precision chiselled metal.
A bespoke museum offering
The material initially inspired him to create an Eiffel Tower, which he replicated in the form of a bookmark, a paper clip and a magnet, and at Maison&Objet in September 2009, representatives of the Château de Chenonceau, the jewel of the Loire Valley châteaux, asked him if he could adapt the idea to create an effigy of the historical monument. Over the course of the same show, the Musée Rodin and the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris also expressed their interest in his work, resulting in the birth of Tout Simplement's bespoke creation division. “I can now say that it was Maison&Objet that created my company”, the designer claims.
Tout Simplement was later contacted by the prestigious French Réunion des Musées Nationaux (RMN) cultural umbrella organisation, which asked him to design products for the gift shops at the Louvre, the Château de Versailles and the Musée d'Orsay.
From the Jura to the MOMA
Nowadays, the Morteau-based SME boasts some 400 points of sale throughout France and exports 30% of its production, both its own collection or bespoke pieces designed for the MOMA in New York, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the Miro Foundation in Barcelona. It also creates luxury greetings cards and invitations, complete with metallic inserts, for brands such as Boucheron, Mont-Blanc and Château Margaux. The small operation of five permanent staff members designs and markets its products and has them manufactured locally by other firms trained to luxury standards, before they are assembled by a multitude of little expert hands. Two workshops employing people with disabilities, one in France and one on the other side of the Swiss border, also play a key role in the process. “Thierry's team at the ESAT in Maîche/Morteau and Hervé's team at the Alfaset Foundation in Couvet, Switzerland, give us cause to be extremely proud of our work. We make everyday objects that might seem simple on the surface, but what I like most of all is the interesting stories behind them”.
By Caroline Tossan
Illustration ©Sarah Bouillaud