Yann Kersalé

Space, materials, light

Just as the lighthouses of his childhood in Brittany are strong signals on the marine landscape, as essential by day as by night within the confines of the sky, the land and the sea, the urban objects Yann Kersalé imagines and designs must all, in his eyes, integrate themselves and make sense in the spaces they occupy, structure and form the architecture of... They lend movement to the places and constructions, redesigning and recolouring towns, forming and pioneering “geo-political routes”, as he nicely states it. For thirty years now, Yann Kersalé has been a “light sculptor” carried along on a wind of creativity. He has enjoyed success after success. His workshop is called AIK Expéditions Lumière and knows no boundaries. His inspiration, drawn from the depths of the night — his chosen
world, his preferred material —, bursts into day with each of his creations. This is the case when he works on eminent projects such as the Opera House in Lyon, the port of Saint-Nazaire, under the glass of the Grand Palais in Paris, on the footbridge of Peace in Seoul or on the Agbar Tower in Barcelona, the product of the imagination of his friend Jean Nouvel. This is the case when he creates urban columns for Petitjean, with the same passion and always in advance of
his time. These bear little resemblance to the gas lights of yesteryear if this is not their primary function. “Nowadays, columns are recurring object, essential for the town. It retains its original practical function, of course, but because of its plastic nature, it also brings us into the realm of the senses.”, explains the plastic designer. A visionary, Yann Kersalé takes into account the column’s daytime architecture while considering its nocturnal role. A signature on a grand scale for Petitjean.