Caterina & Marc Aurel
Marc Aurel, trained at the School of Fine Arts and Architecture in Marseille, joined the Wilmotte & Associés architecture firm in Paris from 1989 to 1994, where he was responsible for urban design projects. In 1995 he founded the Aurel Design Urbain studio in Cassis, then in Paris in 2018. As a full professor of art education, he is coordinator of design education at the Marseille School of Fine Arts (1996 to 2008), then at the Art School of Reunion Island (2001 to 2011).
Caterina Aurel, associated with the Aurel Urban Design Studio since 2002, works on the city as an urban planner and on the development of public spaces. Originally from the Tuscany region, she studied at the Florence School of Architecture, then at the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris, from which she graduated in 1994 with a Master’s degree in Urban Planning and Project Management. She worked with SCET as an urban planner (Groupe Caisse des Dépôts) from 1994 to 2002, before joining the Aurel Design studio. From 2008 to 2020, she taught urban analysis at the Marseille School of Architecture. In 2021, she trained in urban ecology at the Museum of Natural History in Paris (Master’s degree in urban planning and biodiversity).
Caterina & Marc Aurel have chosen to put their know-how at the service of the greatest number of people, in public spaces, by approaching the city through reflections on: innovation in the use of natural materials (ceramics, wicker, etc.) in relation to craft skills, the relationship between the city and nature, the use and enhancement of recycled materials, the quality of light in the city In 2014, winner of the Dialogue prize from the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation, for their collection of ceramic furniture designed for the Souks of Beirut. In 2015 and 2018, the “Beirut and Onda” ceramic seats were added to the permanent collections of the Adrien Dubouché museums in Limoges and Sèvres.
Caterina & Marc Aurel, Onda, seating furniture and planters, 2010-12, mobilConcept edition.
Caterina & Marc Aurel, accès de métro 2030, Grand Paris, 2013-21, producer GHM / Marpex.
© Portrait: Caterina & Marc Aurel
© Photos of the works: Caterina & Marc Aurel
About the arts and crafts residency
The French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici is joining forces with the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation to launch a new residency programme for professionals working in the field of art and craft. The Villa Medici is proposing an annual one-month residency programme for 4 craftsmen and/or designers who are winners of the Liliane Bettencourt Prize for the intelligence of the hand by the end of 2023. Through this research, creation and experimentation residency programme for people working in the field of art and design, the Villa Medici wishes to widen access to its residencies to art craftsmen and designers in a living and working environment that encourages emulation between artistic disciplines.