Pays’Âges
Mont Saint-Michel Bay tapestry-testimony
Pontorson, Normandy
48° 39’ 36’’ N - 1° 30’ 45’’ W
View from 11/06/2023 at 5:15 pm
Scale 1/3000
Pays'Âges reveals the identity of evolving territories as seen from the sky (rising waters, human footprint, disappearance of biodiversity, ...).
Through this collective, local and itinerant project, artist-designer Dorian Étienne is creating a collection of large-scale testimonial tapestries in volume. They present the singularities of the region studied, its topography and biodiversity. They are made on site with 100% local and natural materials. These monumental artworks testify to a “state of place” at this crucial moment of ecological disruption.
Pays’Âges is above all a participatory project: the inhabitants are invited to learn alongside the artist the techniques of plant dyeing and tufting, then to participate weekly in the highlighting of their territory by the realization of the artwork.
This project takes up a major social issue by weaving links between residents of the same locality over the three-month residency on site, while enabling them to understand the place they live in a different way. It also offers a space for creation, sharing and collective transmission, where each stage is carried out jointly. Within local intergenerational teams, it uses art to initiate a deep reflection on the future of the region by forging an intimate relationship with the living and the land.
Each tapestry-testimony will be reproduced thirty years later. Presented in diptychs, the ensembles will bear witness to the evolution of the territories as well as to the ecological and societal issues at stake. Prior to this, the tapestries are accompanied by thirty-year projections of the sites represented. These scenarios are developed by analysing local data, with the support of researchers and specialist organisations.
The Pays’Âges collection continues to develop year on year, supporting the work of local organisations in their mission to protect and enhance the environment, biodiversity and landscapes.
🤝 Commission and public acquisition of the artwork by the Etablissement Public du Mont Saint-Michel
🏆 One & Twenty Finest Design finalist by the German Design Council (Frankfurt 2023)
🏆 Open Design Challenge winner by I.D.C. (Bombay 2024)
🏆 Citizen-Driven Design Award winner by Distributed Design (Barcelona 2024)
🖼️ Pays’Âges exhibitions at Beauport Abbey (2023 and 2024), Saint-Maurice Abbey (2023), Beaux-Arts de Paris (2023), French Fashion Institute (2024), Mont Saint-Michel Tourist Centre (2024), Espace Landowski (2024), Chaillioux Art Centre (2024) and Saint-Étienne International Design Biennal (2025).
Awards
Partners
Residency in the Mont Saint-Michel Priory (Ardevon)
24 committed residents
1934 hours of work including 830 hours of tufting
30kg of local wool = 120km of yarn
17 colored shades of Norman dye plants
🌱 Wool from the Mont Saint-Michel salt meadows sheeps, Norman linen, local dye plants (dyer's knotweed, madder, reseda, coreopsis, rhubarb, ...), natural latex
📏 4000 x 2400 x 100 mm
📷 Dorian Étienne
© Dorian Étienne / All rights reserved.
