Design exhibitions typically treat objects as autonomous entities, isolated under gallery lighting where silence amplifies visual contemplation. CONTRIBUTIONS Festival’s second edition, the nonprofit organization founded by design consultants Anna Caradeuc and Élise Daunay, fundamentally challenges this premise by treating sound not as background atmosphere but as structural element – a layer of meaning that transforms how we perceive material culture. The decision to commission musicians to respond directly to exhibited works creates a dynamic where acoustic and physical forms become mutually constitutive rather than hierarchically arranged.

A wooden stool, black ottoman, and two pillar candle holders on a dark wooden floor near tall windows with a view of buildings and trees outside.

The most compelling manifestation of this approach appears in Emily Thurman’s bell-adorned furniture. Her Mother’s Love Rocking Chair and Cheer Up, for You Are So Young Rocking Stool function simultaneously as sculptural objects and instruments. The bells – some sourced globally, others sculpted by Thurman herself and strung by Paris-based jeweler Zoé Mohm – create a constellation that activates through use rather than remaining static ornamentation. Kevin Morby’s wandering soundtrack incorporates these resonant tones, establishing a feedback loop where the furniture’s sonic properties inform the composed music, which in turn recontextualizes how visitors approach the physical forms.

A modern wooden rocking chair with a black cushion sits on a worn wooden floor in an artist's studio, near a window and art supplies.

Thurman’s broader Hundō collection draws its name from proto-Italic etymology – foundry, meaning to pour out – a reference that connects bronze casting techniques to concepts of devotional practice. The collection thus operates across multiple temporal registers, linking ancient metalworking traditions to contemporary craft revival while the accompanying soundscape adds yet another layer of historical reference through Morby’s musical vocabulary.

A minimalist room with rough, textured walls, abstract sculptures, a bronze sheet, candles, and a sunken rectangular trench in the floor.

A tall wooden speaker stands centered against a dark, textured wall with circular patterns; white pillars and a red carpet are in the foreground.

The pairing of Normandy-based Pauline Esparon’s translucent parchment works with Juliette Teste’s ceramic sculptures. Esparon’s Dabgar series employs centuries-old Pakistani parchment-making traditions, creating surfaces that mediate light with organic irregularity. Positioned against Teste’s ceramics within Michelle Blades’s ethereal soundscape, the installation creates conditions where ancient craft techniques converse with contemporary sculptural practice across both visually and acoustically.

A metal chair with celestial designs and a red cushion is next to a black pedestal and a wall-mounted artwork; rolled papers are on the floor.

Modern room with geometric metal furniture, a round table with two chairs, a counter, abstract sculptures, coat rack, and a neon "CINEMA" sign on a brown carpeted floor.

A small round table with two chairs, a wall-mounted foldable desk, and a tall coat rack in a room with brown carpet and white walls.

A modern wooden speaker with a circular black mesh front stands in front of a wall with a dark, circular pattern design.

Nifemi Marcus-Bello’s M2 Shelf with integrated La Boîte concept speaker recalls living room furniture from the designer’s Lagos childhood, transforming nostalgia into formal investigation. Paired with Thomas Morineau Barthelemy’s seating and Rodrigo Amarante’s evolving Brazilian soundtrack, the installation constructs a listening room that treats domestic furniture as vehicle for cultural transmission.

Two wooden stools with simple, geometric designs stand on a shiny floor in a room with rough, unfinished plaster walls and exposed wiring.

A minimalist interior features textured brown wall panels with circular patterns, wooden geometric furniture, a marble floor, and an exposed concrete column.

The fourth installation, curated by emerging Parisian dealer Adrien Jaïs, brings together Sylvia Corrette’s 1989 Roxanne, Princesse des Djinns series with Luna Paiva’s Aura drawings and Valerie Name Bolaño’s Scavo at Midnight pendant lights within a scenographic framework by Jeanne Tresvaux du Fraval. Corrette’s series, created when French design was negotiating between postmodern expressionism and renewed craft traditions, carries a narrative quality suggested by its reference to mythological spirits.

A beige sphere, a rectangular slab, and a dark vase with white spots rest on stacked concrete blocks against a rough, light-colored wall in a minimalist interior space.

A small, plain room with stone blocks, a plaque, and several lit candles placed on the blocks and floor near the entrance.

A large ceramic vase with blue decorations sits on stacked concrete blocks in a minimalist, unfinished room with rough walls and art objects.

The festival’s fifth presentation – Andrea Laszlo De Simone’s audiovisual piece Una Lunghissima Ombra alongside Harold Mollet’s curation of Metals Milano’s 1994 Bar Metals collection – synthesizes the festival’s broader ambitions. By recreating an Italian bar atmosphere upstairs while De Simone’s work unfolds elsewhere, the installation demonstrates how design and music together construct cultural memory and social ritual.

A metal chair with a red cushion and crescent moon design is beside a metal side table and an abstract red and white artwork on the wall in a minimalist room.

A spacious, rustic room with large skylights and tall windows, wooden floors, scattered modern furniture, and a view of trees and buildings outside.

A wooden stool, black ottoman, and two pillar candle holders on a dark wooden floor near tall windows with a view of buildings and trees outside.

A dark wooden, sculptural stool with a curved seat and base sits on a worn, paint-splattered floor; small charms hang from the stool's edges.

To learn more about CONTRIBUTIONS Festival #2, visit contributions.design.

Photography by DePasquale Maffini, Kate Devine, Pauline Chardin, and Alexandre Onimus.

Leo Lei translates his passion for minimalism into his daily-updated blog Leibal. In addition, you can find uniquely designed minimalist objects and furniture at the Leibal Store.