Focal Arts: An Endowment Fund Dedicated to Knowledge and the Promotion of Know-How Through Multidisciplinary Artistic Creation

PARIS – April 28, 2023 – Being part of preserving and promoting traditional skills and crafts through the creation of contemporary multi-sensory works: this is the vocation of Focal Arts, a non-profit endowment fund. The inaugural work, La Constellation d’Icare, and its installation celebrate the work of leather through the skill of leather-binding, delivering an immersive experience that calls upon the five senses. It was presented on April 27 at the Hôtel National des Arts et Métiers gallery in Paris.

Know-How: a Precious Heritage

Traditional know-how brings together a set of techniques and actions acquired over time, to form a crucial intangible heritage. Focal Arts is committed to the preservation, promotion and protection of this heritage. From mastery of actions, meticulousness of techniques, and respect of material are born products of pure excellence. For its inaugural work, Focal Arts has chosen to highlight the skill of working with leather. The addition of contemporary art invites the public to refresh their outlook on traditional skills.

La Constellation d’Icare

The work and its installation bring together French-Vietnamese painter Hom Nguyen, American composer Mark Yaeger, French perfumer Christophe Laudamiel and French liqueur house H.Theoria around a pair of Grande Utopia acoustic speakers sheathed in leather. More than just a contemplative work of art, La Constellation d’Icare is an immersive scene in which sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste are invoked, each artist bringing their own point of view on the subject. The whole gives rise to a rich, multi-sensory experience.

Presentation of the work in Paris

La Constellation d’Icare will be presented in Paris, at the Hôtel National des Arts et Métiers gallery on April 27, in the presence of the artists and the members of Focal Arts’ board of directors. The work will then begin touring the United States and Asia.

The Focal Arts team consists of Cédrick Boutonet, Chairman of the Board, Bénédicte de Carlan, Board member, Jacques Mahul, Board member, and Louis Gibout, Head of the endowment fund.

“Heritage is not a fixed thing but is constantly evolving. Through Focal Arts, we hope to be a part of showcasing it and keeping it in perpetual motion so that it does not wither away,” said Cédrick Boutonet, President of Focal Arts.