After completing studies in visual communication, Fabien Barrero-Carsenat attended the École Supérieure d’Art et Design de Saint-Étienne for five years. During an Erasmus exchange in Finland, he was exposed to other practices and earned his master’s degree in design, focusing on research involving pine resin.
In 2012, after graduating from Saint-Étienne, Fabien began working as a design assistant at Pepe Heykoop’s studio in Amsterdam, where he experimented with and developed effects on materials such as leather, scrap wood, and certain metals.
After his time in Amsterdam, Fabien devoted himself to his own work in his studio. This is how the Vuoristo tables were born, representing mountainous landscapes inspired by those found in Scandinavia. He continued his research and shifted his focus toward experimentation with natural, uncontrolled processes linked to time and weather. Notably, he developed ceramic vases using a copper evaporation principle that creates nebulous patterns on their surfaces.
This research led him to work with metals and metal casting, particularly bronze, brass, and aluminum. To master the manufacturing processes, Fabien developed a micro-foundry in 2017, which allowed him to create projects such as arches and bridges. These works are the result of observing landscapes and heritage architecture, such as monumental viaducts that have existed for over 150 years. Their architecture fascinated him: “These bridges have the ability to bring things together while also creating distance; they connect point A to point B but simultaneously create separation. This notion of connection particularly interested me.”
Through his various projects, Fabien Barrero-Carsenat enjoys honoring material, which takes center stage in all his work. He is also committed to managing every stage of the production of an object himself: “My interest was in mastering the process from the very first pencil stroke to the fabrication of the object—being able to cast my own bronzes, manage my metal recipes, create alloys, make my own crucibles, and achieve a certain level of autonomy while also revalorizing materials such as tin and copper, which come from discarded objects of contemporary society.” “The idea I have when I design a piece is merely a projection of what the material may offer me in the end.”
