They are inspired by textile workers to design their clothes: Paul Boulenger and Kim Hou are the emerging talents of the Grands Prix de la Création 2021

As part of Paris' support for creative professions, the Grands Prix de la Création de la Ville de Paris reward professionals in the sectors of crafts, fashion and design. For fashion designer Sakina M'Sa, who chaired the fashion jury in December 2020, this "Emerging Talent Prize combines fashion and social project".

Highlight the human

In 2011, Kim Hou, who is studying design, and Paul Boulenger, with a business school profile, became friends during a student exchange in London. They follow different paths but then meet again in Brussels. Paul falls in love with a blue (note: work) dating from 1910 and Kim convinces him to buy it, convinced that it is an essential which she will also make an end-of-study project. This is the germ of the About A Worker adventure which materialized in 2017 when, together, they decided to entrust the design of clothing to textile factory workers, who are too often invisible. "Nobody gives voice to those who make the clothes, explains Paul. We put them back at the center of thinking about fashion".

The first collaboration with an integration workshop in Saint-Denis was a success which led to others: work with the women of a sewing workshop in a prison in Venice, capsule with the handlers of La Redoute, line imagined with five women who were laid off from a textile factory in Shenzhen, China. About A Worker sets up tools to help those who are not used to being consulted: the instruments are adapted according to the contexts in order to develop catwalk outfits, unique pieces sometimes bought by museums, and loan- more affordable wearable with this desire to put the human in the light.

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Franceinfo culture: How will obtaining this prize allow new developments for your brand?

Paul Boulenger and Kim Hou: We are very moved to have been elected Emerging Talent at the Grands Prix de la Création de la Ville de Paris. It is an exceptional reward that highlights our artistic approach and our collaborative system. This prize is also a reward that highlights the invisibles of fashion, their vision of the industry, and their work. Thanks to him, we will continue to develop projects with "workers" in France and abroad, so that the fashion industry is transformed in a fairer and more inclusive way: taking into account everyone's opinions.

This prize will also allow us to develop the WRKR line, a timeless wardrobe inspired by workers' uniforms around the world. WRKR will be a new white page for our collaborations with workers and an experimentation support that will promote innovative textile production systems. Finally, this prize (endowed with 18,000 euros, editor's note) will give us the possibility of expanding the team. It is important to surround yourself with complementary people who are experts in their field in order to develop our studio.

What impact has the 2020 health crisis had on your work? 2020 has been a year full of unforeseen but also beautiful surprises! The crisis has inevitably had a significant impact on our work and our daily lives. Some creative collaborations inevitably had to be canceled. But we were also lucky to be supported by institutions and cultural actors who allowed us to develop new projects despite the current restrictions. We are extremely grateful to them. The fashion industry and more generally the creative industries are tested by health protection measures. What will be the future of creation in a world where social interaction is limited to that of social networks? The value of culture and the physical world absolutely needs to be reconsidered and reinvented.

How do you envisage the year 2021, changes?Despite the ongoing crisis, we have great projects to come, in France and abroad. We are preparing new exhibitions and collaborations; particularly in Charente with the Martell Foundation and the artisans of the last French slipper workshop Atelier Charentaises. There are sure to be changes in the industry. It's time to think before we act, and to imagine new ways of working, coming together and expressing ourselves in such a turbulent time.