Kossi Aguessy
{{Short description|Togolese industrial artist and designer}}
{{infobox person
| name = KossiGan Baaba-Thunde Aguessy
| image =
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| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1977}}
| death_date = 2017
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| nationality = Togo
| occupation = Industrial artist and designer
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
}}
Kossi Aguessy (1977–2017; full name KossiGan Baaba-Thunde Aguessy) was a Togolese and Brazilian industrial designer and artist. He had lived in the United Kingdom, the United States and France.
Biography
Born April 17, 1977, in Lomé, Togo, Aguessy studied industrial and interior design at the Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design in London.
Independent since 2004, he had collaborated with the StarkNetwork in Paris before establishing his eponymous studio in Paris, France, in 2008, while also taking on the role of art director for the London-based, pan-African television channel {{Interlanguage link|VoxAfrica|fr}}, where he was responsible for the visual and broadcasting identity of the media.
In 2008, his Useless Tool, a chair manufactured using military aircraft technology, made international design headlines during the Please Do Not Sit exhibition in Paris.
In 2009, his self-produced Sparkling Joke coffee table, designed using recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and caps, caught the eye of Coca-Cola. He began a collaboration with them, leading to the creation of the Coca Cola Sustainable Design Awards trophy and a set of furniture made with the US beverages company and of recycled materials.
In 2010, Aguessy was featured with several of his works, including his emblematic Useless Chair, the Soissons porcelain floor lamp, and the 3some vase, by the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City in the Global Africa Project, an exhibition co-curated by Lowery Stokes Sims, MAD's Charles Bronfman International Curator, and Leslie King-Hammond. His work{{Cite web |last=Hamelo |first=Gameli |date=2023-12-28 |title=Togo’s First Major Art Park Is Helping the Country Reclaim Its Heritage: ‘This Place Is Now Ours’ |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/palais-de-lome-togo-art-park-african-artists-foundation-1234691349/ |access-date=2024-01-20 |website=ARTnews.com |language=en-US}} has been part of the MAD Museum's permanent collection since 2011.
Aguessy's research in new manufacturing technologies and sustainable energy sources led him to the establishment of the first Fab Lab (FabricationLaboratory), organized by the French Industrial Prospective and the Centre Pompidou, in Porto Novo, Benin, in February 2012.
That same year, he designed and manufactured Koss, the official 2012 present for the presidency of the United Nations Security Council, and conceived The Guardian, the monument celebrating the 50th anniversary of Togolese independence, while the Beaubourg Museum's Multiversités Créatives exhibition showcased the designer's first Benin Designed pieces.
In 2013 The KossiAguessy Studio moved from Paris to London and New York.
Aguessy's works have been in the permanent collection of the Beaubourg museum collection since 2013. As such, he became the first African-descent designer having a nominative section in the French contemporary arts and design museum.
Awards and exhibitions
- Biographiques, Paris, 2003
- Biographiques, Art Shanghaï SAF, Shanghai, China, 2004/2005
- France 5 Exhibition, Paris, France, 2005
- Performance, ArtParis, France, 2006
- Fifi Design Awards 2007, Best 20 Perfume design, 2007
- Please Do Not Sit, Tools Gal, Paris, 2008
- WallPapper UK 10 best Design Awards, 2010
- Sustainable Design Award, 2010
- Freeze Art London, UK, 2010
- G.A.P, Museum of Arts and Design MAD, New York USA, 2010–2011{{Cite web|title=The Global Africa Project Explores the Impact of African Visual Culture on Contemporary Art, Craft, and Design around the World|url=https://madmuseum.org/press/releases/global-africa-project-explores-impact-african-visual-culture-contemporary-art-craft|access-date=2021-12-30|website=madmuseum.org|language=en}}
- Permanent Collection, MoMA ps1, 2011
- Conversation(s), Bensimon Gal, Paris, 2011{{Cite web|title=Kossi Aguessy, designer sur Gallery S. Bensimon|url=http://www.gallerybensimon.com/en/designers/106-kossi-aguessy|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217224735/http://www.gallerybensimon.com/en/designers/106-kossi-aguessy|archive-date=2013-12-17}}
- Permanent Collection, Museum of Arts and Design MAD, New-York USA, 2011{{Cite web|title=Museum of Arts and Design Collection Database|url=http://collections.madmuseum.org/code/emuseum.asp?emu_action=advsearch&rawsearch=exhibitionid%2F%2C%2Fis%2F%2C%2F508%2F%2C%2Ftrue%2F%2C%2Ffalse&profile=exhibitions|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130812083247/http://collections.madmuseum.org/code/emuseum.asp?emu_action=advsearch&rawsearch=exhibitionid%2F%2C%2Fis%2F%2C%2F508%2F%2C%2Ftrue%2F%2C%2Ffalse&profile=exhibitions|archive-date=2013-08-12}}
- Multiversités Créatives, Musée George Pompidou/ Beaubourg, Paris, France, 2012{{Cite web|title=L'évènement Multiversités créatives - Centre Pompidou|url=https://www.centrepompidou.fr/cpv/ressource.action?param.id=FR_R-a166f574f4b4b47b153f99b224acec91¶m.idSource=FR_E-fbe91867c63213578548d4c568cb35a}}
- Magic, Bensimon Gal, Paris, 2012
- BrancoNegro, Artcurial, Paris, 2012
- Permanent Collection, Musée George Pompidou/ Beaubourg, Paris, France, 2013
- Making Africa - A Continent of Contemporary Design, Vitra Design Museum, Germany, 2015
- OCTOBRE ORANGE, Vallois Gallery, Paris, 2015
References and notes
- [http://www.centrepompidou.fr/cpv/ressource.action?param.id=FR_R-728495664c4ab3ec52dde7a283415¶m.idSource=FR_P-728495664c4ab3ec52dde7a283415 Centre Georges Pompidou ressources], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150421030810/https://www.centrepompidou.fr/cpv/ressource.action?param.id=FR_R-728495664c4ab3ec52dde7a283415¶m.idSource=FR_P-728495664c4ab3ec52dde7a283415 |date=2015-04-21 }}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20120623144029/http://collections.madmuseum.org/html/exhibitions/GAP_artists.htm MAD Museum resources]
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.kossiaguessy.biz/ www.kossiaguessy.biz] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706194045/http://www.kossiaguessy.biz/ |date=2022-07-06 }}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20150626123701/http://aguessy.life/ www.aguessy.life]
- [http://www.yatzer.com/Ultimate-design-is-not-a-concept-but-life-Kossi-Aguessy Ultimate design is not a concept but life on Yatzer.com]
- [http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xrtu6j_multiversites-creatives-entretien-avec-kossi-aguessy_creation Kossi Aguessy on Multiversités créatives]
- [http://www.jeuneafrique.com/Article/JA2760p132.xml0/design-hicham-lahlou-kossi-aguessy-bibi-seck-tendances-design-les-petits-genies-de-l-african-touch.html Jeune Afrique Kossi Aguessy]
- [http://www.egodesign.ca/en/article.php?article_id=526 Egodesign on Kossi Aguessy]
- [http://cblog.culture.fr/2013/10/29/atelier-mash-up-et-hackathon-les-nouvelles-pratiques-culturelles-a-lhonneur Kossi Aguessy on French Ministry of Culture] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217192940/http://cblog.culture.fr/2013/10/29/atelier-mash-up-et-hackathon-les-nouvelles-pratiques-culturelles-a-lhonneur |date=2013-12-17 }}
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Category:Alumni of Central Saint Martins
Category:21st-century Togolese people
Category:Togolese expatriates in the United Kingdom