Grégory Blain and Hervé Dixneuf, both graduates of the School of Fine Arts in St. Etienne, founded the Atelier BL119 in 2007. That same year, they were finalists for the Agora grant. In 2008, they won the Cinna Révélateur de talents competition, in the decorative object category, for the project La niche. In 2009 they were selected at the Design Parade festival at the Villa Noailles. The Galerie Tator in Lyon held a show of their work in 2010. For several years they have been working with the CIAV in Meisenthal on various projects involving objects made of glass. Today they are pursuing their activities by developoing new projects for companies and publishers such as Cinna - Ligne Roset, Autori Vari, the Cristallerie Saint-Louis, Bernard Chauveau and Manganèse Edition…

Their projects are the result of a work informed by influences and a quest for harmony between design and function. They have no predefined procedures, their projects come about from the vision of a lack, from the desire to test a matter, explore new uses, and re-design objects. Their works have nothing to do with the superfluous, they find solutions in a detail, the goal being to remain within simplicity and the right form. Their twosome enables them to compare their different viewpoints and cultivate exchanges. Their area of activity encompasses product design, furniture and set design. They are steering their line of thinking into a pragmatic dimension in order to create unusual, useful and surprising objects.

Alongside their activity, they are involved in the programming of cultural associations including the Galerie Surface (Saint-Etienne) for the promotion of contemporary art and design.

Translated by Simon Pleasance, 2015