“RACINES” : WHEN NATURE GUIDES THE HAND

Invented by Paul Dodane in the late 1980s according to an original concept, the removable handle has become one of Cristel’s signature designs. For the first time in its history, the brand has chosen to entrust its reinterpretation to an external designer. Named Racines, this new collection of handles and side handles has given Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance the opportunity to offer a fresh vision, in which the natural character of the material and organic forms enrich an innovation whose technical principle remains unchanged.

As the first designer invited to revisit this iconic piece, Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance approached the project with a desire to respect Cristel’s heritage while bringing his own sensibility to it. “It was a genuine honour, but also a responsibility, to follow in Paul Dodane’s footsteps. The technical principle was already perfectly resolved. My role was therefore not to reinvent it, but to bring my own sensibility to it and tell another story through its form.” Without changing anything about the mechanism devised by Paul Dodane, the designer chose to shift the focus. Where previous handles primarily expressed technical performance, Racines introduces a more sensitive, almost narrative dimension. Its design draws its inspiration directly from nature. True to this philosophy, Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance also reworked certain details. The button that activates the mechanism has been slightly elongated to improve ergonomics. The movement of the finger becomes even more natural, more intuitive and more comfortable, while the original mechanism remains unchanged. “For me, designing means transforming a natural, plant-based or animal material. The handle then becomes an extension of the hand. It was inspired by an organic form. The wood is sculpted like a fragment of a branch or root whose fibres seem to have been shaped by time. The lines are deliberately understated, almost self-evident, so that the material can express its full character.”

Far from being merely an exercise in style, this approach reconciles two worlds that might at first seem opposed: the precision of engineering and the spontaneity of the living world. This creation forms part of a reflection that Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance has been pursuing for many years on the connections between objects, landscapes and the forms found in nature. “I am very attached to this continuity between our natural environment and the objects around us. I always try to introduce some of that nature into far more controlled environments.” Wood thus becomes the project’s true language. The technical element remains very much present, but recedes behind the material and the quality of the gesture. “I wanted to rediscover something akin to a branch or a root. A very pure form in which the technical connection almost disappears in favour of the material.”

At Cristel, Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance’s vision finds a particularly coherent field of expression. In his view, Racines fits with remarkable naturalness into the history of the manufacturer, which is celebrating the bicentenary of its factory this year. The handle perfectly captures the spirit of the brand. For the designer, this impression reflects a natural affinity born of the values he shares with Cristel: durability, the sincerity of the materials, technical rigour and the pursuit of timeless elegance.

Source : Home Fashion News #62 – Sept 2026 / Traduction : Leila Ahmad