Ndeur

Maybe we give jewelry-makers too much credit. It’s no stretch to make desirable objects out of diamonds and platinum, is it? But to craft luxury from the most common medium—plain, simple paper—is an impressive, super-modern skill.

And one that comes in handy when you’re a couple of young designers in Paris—not exactly bathing in bling, but bursting with ideas. Such is Matthieu Missiaen, a.k.a Ndeur. The 27-year-old multi-experimentalist first grabbed us by painting vintage shoes in eye-popping street designs and selling them out of his Kensington Market studio in Toronto.

When he moved back to Paris in summer 2008, we knew we hadn’t heard the last. Soon enough, he met his other half—Julien Morin, 25, a graphic designer obsessed with packaging and paper culture. Together, they’re Le Creativ Sweatshop, an idea studio with hyper ambitions and seemingly ceaseless productivity—they design furnishings, installations, and fashion accessories. They want nothing less than the world. And for now, they’re making it out of paper.

“We use paper right now because it’s pretty fast to have a good result,” says Matthieu, though we beg to differ with his definition of speed. One bracelet, two craftsmen, 15 hours = “pretty fast”? A beautiful labour, we’d say.

The results aren’t just good, either, they’re great! Those 15-hour bracelets come out glossy and aggressively spiked, their shapes at once primitive and futuristic, making us think of stegosauruses and studs.

You want one, right? Too bad—they’re for inspiration, not sale. “I don’t really think we will mass produce,” Matthieu says. “It’s definitely not the goal of what we do. We’d rather work on really rare and precious objects for photoshoots or runways.”

Those you see here were created for Toronto fashion designer Heidi Ackerman, of whom Matthieu is a “huge fan”; the stark white and metallic forms suit her avant-garde minimalism. At London Fashion Week, Matthieu and Julien catwalked a new collection of paper accessories with Belle Sauvage—a wicked-pretty London label, beloved by Lady Gaga and punk kids alike

And though you can’t flaunt these exact cuffs—Le Creativ Sweatshop is all about the DIY spirit—nothing would make Matthieu and Julien happier than to see you making paper fly all by yourself.

www.ndeur.com
Words and Styling: Sarah Nicole Prickett
Photography: Kavin Wong / Shark Vs. Bear