01 Brief
Research trip
Senegal
In March 2026, as part of my MDEF programme, I joined a research trip to Senegal called Buum, pont, mort, “rope, nail, hammer.”
We travelled from cities like Dakar and Saint-Louis to rural Casamance, meeting artisans and collectives to see how communities make, repair, and sustain everyday life through craft, reuse, and cooperation.
For me it was a chance to rethink design as something situated and relational, rooted in real resourcefulness rather than innovation for its own sake.
02 The work
Maisa Fall
Workshop 1
Maisa Fall is a Senegalese collective based in Saint-Louis, whose artistic work is grounded in the upcycling of motorbike waste to create sculptures referencing African tribal culture.
We spent one day welding with them and designing sculptures.
Fisherman
Workshop 2
We co-operated for two intense days with the workers of the fishermen’s ghetto in Saint-Louis, reusing wood waste from the fishing boats.
No shared language at all, but a lot of informal making, to design objects for the children of the community.
ONE LOVE!!!
Some of these pictures are taken from Ramon Prat Gibert’s films. We spent an unbelievable time…
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03 Process
In Senegal I did some interviews linked to my thesis research, Homo Faber within markets dynamics.
A simple, easy question, one that has triggered me since the beginning of my design career: why do you love fabricating, making, designing things with your hands?
Should designing objects just be a matter of profit???
For me, nope… There are other values that we never take into consideration.
An interview with a member of the Maisa Fall collective, actually the son of the founder, and a kind and warm guy!
One love!
An interview with Baye Maguette Ndiaye, for the friends Ibrahima Ndiaye, a multitasking and kind guy of the fishermen’s ghetto of Saint-Louis.
He was wearing a t-shirt on which it was written: “do everything with kindness”.
We didn’t speak the same language, but we built a seesaw together for the children of the ghetto…
One love!
An interview with Bouba Diop, a carpenter and ebanist of the fishermen’s ghetto of Saint-Louis. A shy guy, really introverted the first day, but as soon as we started building stuff together we created a relation over the words and the language boundaries.
He was able to drive a nail into the strong wood from the ship with just three kicks, while smoking a cigarette. Crazy!
We didn’t speak the same language, but we built a bar chair together for Madlene, our host in Saint-Louis.
One love!
An interview with Mame Cheikh Mbengue, the painter of the pirogues of the fishermen’s ghetto of Saint-Louis. A kind guy. We smoked a few cigarettes together while he showed me his different painted decorations.
He painted some stuff mixing the colours of the Senegalese and Spanish national flags, for me an open-minded gesture.
Are we sure that Africa and African people are less developed than us???
We didn’t speak the same language, but we built a little house for the girls of the fishermen’s ghetto.
One love!
An interview with a member of the pottery artist family in Ziguinchor, Casamance, also the mum of the little and funny baby Jordan.
She was so cute and kind with us, thanks also to the amazing translator of those days, my friend Jasper.
Her gestures and movements with the hands were amazing: fast, clean and perfect. I tried a few times to follow her… but I don’t have the patience.
The whole process for making the clay is zero kilometre. Everything comes from the same river, 500 metres from the workshop.
Are we sure that Africa and African people are less developed than us???
One love!