Sylvia Eustache Rools & Jérôme Pereira

Fascinated by rocks, minerals and oxidation processes, artist Sylvia Eustache Rools explores the endless possibilities of what she calls a textile geology, endeavouring to transform silks and satins through various techniques – painting, dyeing, macerating, oxidising – until the final results feels geological, timeless, immemorial.

Jérôme Pereira is a wood sculptor who questions balance, inspired by the forces of nature. He works according to his intuition, letting himself be carried along by the material. For him, adding an object to the world is a great responsibility, which must be in line with his environmental convictions.

The meeting of the two artists gave rise to the “Awaré” project, a unique duo, a poetic alliance between wood and textile, whose name comes as much from the Japanese “mono no aware”, which designates the poignant feeling of the impermanence of things, as from the English “to be aware”.

With maison parisienne, Sylvia Eustache Rools and Jérôme Pereira present their unique pieces in which wood is sculpted to reveal different facets, balances, and flaws that are transformed into treasures. The wooden base is extended with a metal structure, vertical edges on which are sewn sections of fabric that are painted, oxidised, and tinted to create new textures. Between transparency and opacity, the collections of this remarkable duo evoke ideas of tension, harmony, and a balance between duality and unity.

Awaré was a finalist of the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize in 2022 for their sculpture Strata II.