Ilco Design
ilco is an art and design studio formed by Madeleine Duflot (b.1994), from Strasbourg, France, and Koa Pham (b.1993) from Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam, origins that are derived and merged into the studio name (‘il’ meaning ‘he’ in French and ‘co’ adopted from ‘she’ in Vietnamese). Instagram: @ilco_design
They met during their BA studies in Product Design at Central Saint Martins (2016), and founded their practice in 2017. Madeleine went on to study a graduate diploma in Fine Arts (2018) and a master degree in Spatial Design (2019) at Chelsea College of Art, while Koa completed a master degree in Industrial Design (2019) at Central Saint Martins.
“Our aim is to increase people’s wellbeing through the environment they live in and experience daily, by filling it up with playful and thought-provoking objects and furniture. We believe in the therapeutic benefits of the arts and want to demystify the ‘holly artwork’, to make interactions with artworks casual and accessible to everyone. Merging art with design, we create works that have both spiritual and practical functions.”
Where would you like your work to take you?
We’d like our work to take us where it is meant to take us! We are doing it for ourselves and for the people who enjoy it. Of course, the more people relate to it the happier we are! And we would love to create a playground one day. In Japan. Basically, we want to have fun, share the fun, and spread the message that art is good for all of us. If it can become our main activity, we’re blessed!
What do you look for when creating an image?
When we are creating something new, the most important part is probably that we enjoy the process, and have a narrative we genuinely believe in. Integrity feels really important. We also enjoy trying out new techniques and materials, and meeting other independent creatives to work with. Then we hope for a positive impact on people’s life!
If you could collaborate with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?
We are very fond of what was being made in the 70s and 80s, in terms of playfulness, colours, freedom. So collaborating with the Memphis group or Studio Alchimia would have been a real treat. We also sometimes wish Verner Panton or Joe Colombo were still alive. Amongst the living, Takashi Murakami, Bjork, Martin Creed, Philippe Katerine... There are a many to dream about!
PLAY banner, 2020. The PLAY banners are a celebration of playfulness in our lives. Inspired by the work of historian Johan Huizinga, ‘Homo Ludens, a study of the play element in culture’, our banners aim to float as a statement and a reminder of the important value of playing. ‘Here, then, we have the first main characteristic of play: that it is free, is in fact freedom.’ –Huizinga.
Can you list a couple other creatives/friends/people you look to for inspiration?
There are so many artists and designers going back to creating sculptural functional works, it is really exciting. We love Odd Matter and Soft Baroque duos, or the artists curated by Everyday Gallery. Pierre Charpin’s shapes and colours are a delight to the eyes and mind, as well as everything Tyler McGillivary posts on her Instagram feed AND stories. Sam Youkilis clips are also mesmerizing, and a good reminder there is so much to look at and get inspired by in simple life scenes.