“More than ever before, we are living at a frantic pace, constantly stressed and overstimulated. Is that really what we want?”, asks Jean-Marie Massaud, with his work providing the answer: no way. With his nature-inspired design, the French architect and designer has a unique style. Not only is his work heavily influenced by the beauty and harmony of our blue planet, it also demonstrates enormous variation. His work ranges from interior design to major architectural projects, from concept cars to flying hotels, from one-off items to series production. Massaud is opposed to “decadent” design, which focuses all its energy on “styling”. Rather, his objective is to create a holistic effect – along with better living spaces. “I try to take an honest, generous approach and I’m aware that somewhere behind the cold, hard economic facts are the users themselves. People.” Top brands such as Cacharel, Foscarini, Lancôme, Paloma Picasso, Renault or Toyota place their confidence in the ideas that come out of the Studio Massaud in Paris.

Jean-Marie Massaud became world-famous for his “Estadio Omnilife” (2010): the sensational football stadium near Guadalajara, a Mexican city with over a million inhabitants, was designed to look like a volcano. His bathroom of the future, which he accomplished in 2005 in the form of an Axor WaterDream, is an organic landscape. This vision gave rise to the Axor Massaud bathroom collection. Mixers featuring gushing waterfalls, showers offering a refreshing downpour, bath tubs that are transformed into lakes: water really could not be orchestrated in a more sensuous way. Massaud receives numerous awards for these designs: “Designer of the Year” (2007, 2009), Wallpaper Design Award (2014), Interior Innovation Award (2015) and lots more. His work is accompanied by monographic books and exhibitions, from Paris to Tokyo.

Jean-Marie Massaud was born in 1966 in the city of Toulouse in the South of France, a centre of high-tech industry, but also a gateway to the sensuous South. It may well be this exciting contrast that is featured in his designs – and which drew him to Paris, to the University for Industrial Design. In 1990 he graduated from the “ENSCI/Les Ateliers”, started his career in Hong Kong, founded a studio in Paris and became one of the big names on the international design scene. His design artistry incomparably combines comfort and elegance, Zeitgeist and tradition, enjoyment and sustainability. Massaud’s powerful ideas gravitate towards the future: his focus is consistently on human and ecological progress and bringing new life to a theme. Whether he is designing perfume bottles, bathrooms, sofas, showrooms or hotels. In the Massaud design studio, at least six other designers work closely with the proprietor.