M/M Paris

M/M (Paris) is a French graphic designer duo consisting of Mathias Augustyniak (b. 1968, Paris) and Michael Amzalag (b. 1967, Cavaillon) [http://www.ambafrance-uk.org/Paris-Calling-Participating.html] , based in Paris. M/M are best known for their art direction and collaborations with artists and fashion companies like Purple Fashion magazine, Vogue Paris, Björk, Yohji Yamamoto, Balenciaga, Calvin Klein, Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, Pierre Huyghe and Philippe ParrenoZahm, Olivier; "M/M (Paris) interview"; Purple Fashion, Fall Winter 2008/09; Purple Institute, Paris 2008; p.136-143] .

Biography

Amzalag and Augustyniak met as students at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs in Paris 1988. Amzalag graduated in 1990, and started working as art director at the music magazine "Les Inrockuptibles". Augustyniak continued to study at the Royal College of Art in London, from where he graduated in 1991Saillard, Olivier; "The A-Z of M/M"; A Magazine curated by Yohji Yamamoto; A Publisher, Antwerp 2005, p.136-143] . Since none of them were interested in internship or working for an agency or a company, they decided to work together, and M/M (Paris) was founded in 1992.

Initially, they worked mainly for the music industry, designing record sleeves etc [http://www.reservocation.com/01_09/index.html] , but soon they started working within the worlds of fashion and art. Their first fashion assignment was to design the European launch of Yohji Yamamoto’s Y’s range in 1993, closely followed by a campaign for Martine Sitbon. In 1995 they met photographers Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin [http://www.thefashionspot.com/forums/f81/m-m-paris-graphic-designers-1260-3.html] , and the both duos ended up in a long collaboration starting with a campaign for Thierry Mugler in 1997, followed by iconic works for Yohji Yamamoto, Björk’s video for "Hidden Place", and more art-oriented works such as "The Alphabet" (2001), and "The Alphamen" (2003), two projects based on creating typography out of portraits of models, published in "V magazine" [http://www.designmuseum.org/design/m-m] .

In between 1997 and 2001 M/M worked as visiting professors at ECAL (École Cantonale d'Art de Lausanne) in Switzerland, holding several student workshops, including the exploration of fashion and identity in "Milneufcentseptantesix - Ready made characters for our generation" with van Lamsweerde & Matadin, exhibited at Espace Lausannois d'Art Contemporain in 2001.

In 2002 M/M collaborated with artist Philippe Parreno, designing the interior of "Café Etienne Marcel" in Paris [http://www.airdeparis.com/parreno/cafe/cafe.htm] .

In 2004 they designed the scenography for Éric Vigner’s opera "Antigone Under Hypnosis" [http://www.mmparis.com/texts/mm_showstudio.html] .

After the "re-birth" of Purple Fashion in 2004, M/M started as creative consultants for the magazine, and since 2007 art directors and designers.

M/M have held many exhibitions at, among others, Gallery Rocket (Tokyo), Palais de Tokyo (Paris), and Centre Pompidou (Paris) [Fujimoto, Yasushi; The 10 Influential Creators for Magazine Design; Pie Books, Tokyo 2007; p.132-155] . They are currently represented by Haunch of Venison in London, and Air de Paris in Paris [http://www.mmparis.com/] .

tyle

M/M were initially influenced by the strict Swiss school of graphic design, and the more emotional and sensetive Polish school [Miller, Ken; "M/M Paris"; Tokion No.43; New York 2004] . Although highly visual, expressive and fashionable, they have an intellectual approach to design. M/M’s signature designs are handdrawn; illustrative and expressive, often applied at, and integrated in, photographs [http://www.mmparis.com/texts/mm_dahlqvist.html] (so called "dessin dans l’image", or "drawings in the picture"). First introduced to the public in the Yohji Yamamoto Spring/Summer 1999 catalogue, these drawings most clearly have defined the personal visual language of M/M (Paris).

Gallery

Some examples of the work of M/M (Paris).

References

External Links

[http://www.mmparis.com/ Official website of M/M (Paris)]