Tell us about the studio: Who are the founders, how many employees, where are you based, what’s your speciality, any details you’d like to share.
We are Donald & Yoann, we run Atelier Choque Le Goff since 2016, we are based in Nantes. We met up at school and instantly began to work together. Going along with the projects, we got conscious of all the ideas, point of views and interests we had in common. These school projects we did together were a good practice to set up our duo work and method. It was then obvious that we wanted to launch the Atelier right after graduating. Beside the way of working at two, we also really wanted to experience our sensibilities and vision about graphic design in the real world. We both did internships and short time jobs in various companies before (during school) and knew that it wasn’t where we wanted to be. We are inspired by many many various things and our style is probably defined by the fusion of all these inspirations. Again here there are categories of inspirations such as other artist’s work (in various fields like choreography, painting, sculpture, architecture, graphic design, product design, music, …) but also things that surrounds us like visual scenes, accidents, funny incongruous stuff you can find in nature, street, any place. We could also mention energy. Sometimes the inspiration doesn’t necessarily come from something visual or a concept but from the energy of what we experience. It is quite obvious in music or living art such as dance, performance. This energy could lead us to produce specific shapes or projects related to what we felt.
Regarding our speciality, we could say that we are specialized on book design, poster design or visual identity but we do not consider this as a constraint. Everything is interesting and that’s what we love about our business, to discover new fields, new mediums, new tools and expand our expertise to signage, video, set design, furniture, etc.
What is the story behind the name of the studio?
It is simply both of our last names, we wanted something simple and a name we won’t be bored with a few years after so it went quite logical for us to use our names. The part that needed more reflection was « Atelier », it has a special meaning in French, it refers to a workshop, a place of craftsmanship and it was a deliberate choice not to use a word like « bureau »(office) or « studio » that is more related to a traditional workplace, a place for pure business.
Which topics or industries are you most passionate about and focused on?
There are many and very various. We are deeply passionate by living art, music, theater and dance. More directly related to our practice we could say illustration, drawing and painting. We could also mention architecture, carpentry, framing, woodwork and furniture design.
If working in a shared space: do you listen to something or play music while working?
Music has a huge importance in our process. We have multiple playlists, very various, sorted by styles and moods. Sometimes we just let them play randomly and it can unconsciously condition our production or we pick deliberately something because we want it to orientate what we do, something calm and easy or wild and crazy, something rigorous and sharp or more savage, it depends. We could say that quite often the music we listen to really defines the creation we are working on.
How does the team wind down or spend quality time together?
As we are best friends before being associates - we try to keep those moments outside the studio to share holidays, weekends etc. It is very important for us, for the studio and for our practice.
What’s the hardest thing about running a studio?
There are few categories of challenges. On one hand, there are the challenges linked to creation. The idea here is that we have to be constantly in a position of research and evolution in our work, the risk would be to adopt a position of self-satisfaction and to be stuck in it, we always try to question what we do (meaning, aesthetics, techniques, etc.) and make it grow. These challenges are natural and it is what we love about our discipline. The other challenge around creation could also be the reflection of the way you present a project, how you defend your ideas. On the other hand, the second category is more about the administrative part. We are talking about customer management, employee management, economic reliability. These are topics we’ve never really studied or been trained to so it is quite a challenge to learn it while you experience it. We could also mention a third one that would be how to stick to your political and ethical values. We’ve been facing this question quite often and sometimes it is hard to keep it all straight.
What’s the best thing about running a studio?
The most exciting part of our job is always the first steps of a project, the moment you take time to experiment, try new stuff, the research. It is also a chance to have a great diversity of subjects on various mediums, it is never the same and we really enjoy learning about a new field, a new problematic and look for ideas and shapes connected to it.We also value the fact of creating images that exist in the public space, it is a place we’re given and we think our role is to question the viewer and that’s stimulating.
When was the last time you said ‘no’ to a new client or project and why?
We can refuse a project for different reasons: if we feel that the brief is too narrow or not clear enough, if the budget is not aligned with the project or, for example, this year we said no to a big brand who wanted to work with us on a national campaign. It was well paid but it wasn’t really matching with our ethical values. We try to stay focused on what matters to us.
What's the best advice you can give about working with clients?
Do not hesitate to talk and discuss with the client. Request a proper detailed and clear brief. A good project is all about sharing ideas and statements - it is a common project built by discussion and observations.
Where would you like to see the studio in 5 years?
Actually, we are quite happy now with our client and work, the aim would be to continue experimenting and making our style evolve. We could say maybe to find a better balance between our personal projects and commissioned work. We would love to have more time to develop experimental personnel projects around space, volume and surface.
Thank you Donald & Yoann!
