ACE Education in skate mode (2024)

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Skateboard culture is back with a vengeance. Now an Olympic sport at the Paris games, its lifestyle that emerged from 1980s underground culture fascinates all generations, from the original enthusiasts, now in their fifties, to Gen Z, in love with adrenaline and its free spirit. Skateboarding is related to so many areas: fashion, design, sports, and an overall attitude. So it’s no surprise that the students at ESDAC, who were invited to create a project for Paris Design Week, wanted all hands on “deck” for this multifaceted theme. ESDAC teaches art and design in all forms, whether for fashion, products, spaces, or graphics. As a member of the ACE Education group, it includes 17 campuses spread across France. One of the unique aspects of its teaching is its philosophy of immersing its students very quickly in the professional milieu. Supervised by a team of designers, they work on real projects with companies. This is why ACE Education is an official partner of Paris Design Week for the second year running. Students at Masters level 1 worked for an entire year on the SK8 Is Design exhibition, which will be on show at 80 bis rue de Turenne in the Marais district from September 5-11. Briefed by the teams at Paris Design Week, they benefited from talks that encouraged them to show off all the different facets of design, from storytelling to the implementation of their creative venture. A wooden deck, rubber wheels, and metal mountings: skateboarding offers a variety of inspiring shapes and materials for designers, especially since riders are hard on them and often break them, without necessarily recycling them. This exhibition will demonstrate, among other things, a variety of furnishings and accessories that offer a domestic retirement from the sporting careers of skateboards that are at the end of their lives. “But so much more than this, too,“ notes Lyly Petit-Fournier-Lemêtre, Brand Manager and Director for the ESDAC brand. “The students’ project also involved seeking out resources from the world of crafts to produce unexpected designs: crystal, burnt wood, woodworking and more…skateboarding also provides a framework for imagining jewelry and precious objects.” As a nod to 1980s culture, icons from this Pop era will also make an appearance, including Barbie, Lego, and Spiderman…Some of the 21 students have even created real works of art in an “anti-design” vein, a sign that the counterculture continues to inspire young designers.