Zbeul Studio

Zbeul Studio is a multidisciplinary creative studio founded by Thomas Noui and Victor Robin. Based in Paris, they develop a practice in which design, history, and experimentation intertwine, placing materials and their transformations at the heart of the creative process. Informed by socio-historical narratives and artisanal know-how, their approach considers design as a form of archaeology capable of connecting different temporalities. They conceive their objects as “future relics”, situated at the intersection of the past, the present, and the future.

Historical and conceptual research is closely intertwined with a deep understanding of materials and making processes. Zbeul Studio draws on ancient know-how, craft traditions, and sometimes forgotten typologies, reinterpreting them through contemporary experimentation with materials and uses. In 2023, Thomas Noui and Victor Robin were finalists for the “Réenchanter la Villa Médicis” open call. In 2025, they took part in the exhibition “Les Nouveaux Ensembliers” at the Mobilier National and were awarded the Prix Mathias for the ‘Cordes’ collection.

The ‘Cordes’ collection explores the sculptural and symbolic potential of a technique imagined at the crossroads of cultures. Inspired by a vernacular Japanese practice—the application of urushi lacquer to rice-straw ropes—Zbeul Studio transposes this gesture into a European context, introducing different materials and forms. Hemp rope is worked with pine tar, applied in successive layers like lacquer, until it acquires deep blacks and an intense gloss. In parallel, the studio revisits five typologies drawn from the Hellenistic repertoire—the Nestoris, Pelike, Stamnos, Hydria, and Poterion. These reinvented ancient archetypes evoke the memory of domestic uses while asserting the contemporary force of experimentation. With ‘Cordes’, Zbeul Studio explores possible connections between craft, design, and archaeology, opening a dialogue between history and alternate history.

The ‘Archeologia’ chair extends this reflection by reclaiming bone, an ancestral material that has gradually fallen out of use. Bovine bones, dyed black using techniques derived from cabinetmaking, are combined with a minimal structure in black powder-coated steel. Their texture and porosity remain perceptible, while their structural role directly echoes that of the seat itself: just as the skeleton supports the body from within, the chair acts as an exoskeleton that supports it from the outside. At the intersection of furniture, sculpture, and archaeological artifact, ‘Archeologia’ plays on a tension between attraction and repulsion, familiarity and strangeness.

Designer, interior architect, and visual artist Thomas Noui, born in 1996, graduated with honors from École Camondo in 2021. With a passion for archaeology, he develops a research-driven conceptual approach that explores temporality, memory, and societal issues. He was awarded the Prix de la Monnaie de Paris in 2023 and the Prix Maisons Pariente in 2025.

Fine cabinetmaker Victor Robin, born in 1996, trained at École de la Bonne Graine in Paris. His hands-on knowledge of materials and making processes grounds the studio’s research in practice. The complementary nature of their backgrounds creates a dialogue between conceptual thinking and craftsmanship, allowing them to consider material, form, and process as an integrated whole.