Investigation into the landscape-patterned lace curtains of Greater Paris, an ordinary object that may not have had its last word.
PROJECT PRESENTATION
The brise-bise is a lightweight patterned lace curtain that covers at least part of a window, at eye level. It serves to shield the interior from the gaze of neighbors while letting in light and offering glimpses through its weave, allowing the occupant to discreetly peek outside.
From the village and its church steeple to frolicking kittens, and from galloping horses in a peaceful meadow, there is an incredible variety of motifs on these embroidered curtains. Yet, certain symbols, animals, and built typologies appear repeatedly.
What stories do these vernacular landscapes tell, and have they even truly existed? What can we learn from brise-bises before they disappear from our cities with the passing of their owners’ generation? What unfolds in the interplay between motif choices and the geography or sociology of the places where they are found?
The goal is to create an Atlas of brise-bises displayed in the windows of the 130 municipalities of Greater Paris, to rediscover the landscapes that unfold before our eyes. Focusing on this ordinary object is a way to enter the private world of Parisians, offering a poetic testimony of their view of the territory and questioning our desires for landscapes and architecture. Finally, it may serve as the starting point for a collective shift in perspective, and perhaps even inspire the creation of new metropolitan brise-bises.
The brise-bise is a lightweight patterned lace curtain that covers at least part of a window, at eye level. It serves to shield the interior from the gaze of neighbors while letting in light and offering glimpses through its weave, allowing the occupant to discreetly peek outside.
From the village and its church steeple to frolicking kittens, and from galloping horses in a peaceful meadow, there is an incredible variety of motifs on these embroidered curtains. Yet, certain symbols, animals, and built typologies appear repeatedly.
What stories do these vernacular landscapes tell, and have they even truly existed? What can we learn from brise-bises before they disappear from our cities with the passing of their owners’ generation? What unfolds in the interplay between motif choices and the geography or sociology of the places where they are found?
The goal is to create an Atlas of brise-bises displayed in the windows of the 130 municipalities of Greater Paris, to rediscover the landscapes that unfold before our eyes. Focusing on this ordinary object is a way to enter the private world of Parisians, offering a poetic testimony of their view of the territory and questioning our desires for landscapes and architecture. Finally, it may serve as the starting point for a collective shift in perspective, and perhaps even inspire the creation of new metropolitan brise-bises.
THE TEAM
Trained as an architect at ENSAP Lille and later completing a master’s in urban planning at Paris Nanterre University, Alice Hallynck worked for about fifteen years in urban planning and landscape agencies.
Since 2022, she has been able to carry out research and creative projects on brise-bises, in collaboration with an embroidery company in Villers-Outréaux, to implement new galleries of contemporary landscape in macramé: the first in the municipality of Quesnoy-sur-Deûle (59), thanks to the Mondes Nouveaux grant from the Ministry of Culture (funded by France Relance and the European Union’s NextGenerationEU), and the second paying tribute to the Bassin Minier for the Cité des Électriciens in Bruay-la-Buissière (co-funded by the DRAC Hauts-de-France).
Trained as an architect at ENSAP Lille and later completing a master’s in urban planning at Paris Nanterre University, Alice Hallynck worked for about fifteen years in urban planning and landscape agencies.
Since 2022, she has been able to carry out research and creative projects on brise-bises, in collaboration with an embroidery company in Villers-Outréaux, to implement new galleries of contemporary landscape in macramé: the first in the municipality of Quesnoy-sur-Deûle (59), thanks to the Mondes Nouveaux grant from the Ministry of Culture (funded by France Relance and the European Union’s NextGenerationEU), and the second paying tribute to the Bassin Minier for the Cité des Électriciens in Bruay-la-Buissière (co-funded by the DRAC Hauts-de-France).
