Where Craft Meets Industry: The Tom Ducarouge Approach

Craftsmanship. It’s a word that resonates across design, fashion, food, and furniture — a term that conjures up the idea of timeless expertise, a savoir-faire that goes beyond machines, rooted in a profoundly human dimension. But where does it come from? How, historically and sociologically, did a concept that seems to resist standardization take shape? Craftsmanship — the artisan’s skill, their attention to detail, their care for materials — is much more than a matter of manual ability: it’s the expression of a cultural heritage that is passed down, adapted, and reinvented from generation to generation. From Antiquity, when each craftsman belonged to a guild that recognized their worth, through the Industrial Revolution, which challenged and then reevaluated its role, craftsmanship reflects the ongoing transformation of societies — as well as our changing relationship with objects, time, and work.

Now, in a world of overproduction, never-ending deadlines, and homogenization, the notion of craftsmanship is juxtaposed with a machine which has lost all connection to the human touch. Assembly lines, mechanization, and increasingly stringent delivery schedules on one hand; on the other, the care bestowed upon each piece — a work that takes time, patience, and intimate knowledge, a slowness which is at times a luxury, even a defiance. It's as if human beings are fighting to catch up, sacrificing quality, meaning, and soul in the bargain. Here, craftsmanship is an ethical response, a method of going back to a more human form of production. It's about reclaiming time, relationships, and raw materials — so-called slow production — in contrast to a machine that will attempt to consume everything from the real.

It's at this delicate tipping point — between purity of birth and instrumentalisation, between slowness and overproduction — that the destiny of craftsmanship stands in the balance. A future which demands a profound rethinking of the ethical, moral, and social choices we take as consumers, as designers, as craftspeople, and as citizens.

It is precisely here, in this environment, that designers and artists are intelligently and sincerely reclaiming the concept of craftsmanship. A case in point is Tom Ducarouge, a designer who has made the discussion between industry and craftsmanship his own personal distinguishing mark. Ducarouge does not believe these two worlds to be in opposition, but as complementary spheres: every one of his paintings is an opportunity to learn new technologies and techniques, discovering how current technologies are able to coexist peacefully with old master craft.

At the core of his craft is a profound narrative: every object he crafts is more than a mere artifact — it is a vessel for stories, a conveyance imbued with feeling, ceremony, and relearned engagement. This philosophy is achieved both in appearance and function, where beauty is not an end in itself but a means to create meaningful experience. With a broad range of materials to work with — from mirror and ceramic to aluminum and beyond — Ducarouge creates trailblazing works that combine functionality with artisanal skill. In doing so, he reinstates the human element that mass production otherwise skips, returning design to its soul, its voice, and its capacity to communicate with people on a very emotional plane.

Ducarouge lives in Paris, a vibrant metropolis that has successfully woven art, craft, and architecture into a rich and ever-evolving social tapestry. Educated at Central Saint Martins in London — an institution renowned for shaping generations of designers who view objects as mediums for storytelling, critical reflection, and the exploration of new social forms — Ducarouge infuses his work with this sensibility. Each of his creations becomes a crossroads of experience, a meeting place, and a vessel of memory.

Throughout his career, he has developed work with iconic global brands such as Gucci, Rimowa, New Balance, Soho House, Uniqlo, Arc’teryx, and Alexander McQueen. This has broadened his conceptual and industrial experience while deepening his understanding of the human nature at the heart of each object, as he designs extensively with individuals from all walks of life.

One of the most interesting collab projects I appreciate by Tom Ducarouge is his product design for New Balance. Grey is an intrinsic element in Tom’s work — a reflection of his material choices — just as it is for the iconic models by New Balance. In keeping with this, he designed a mirror featuring a gradation of grey tones, which was displayed in the NB Grey Day space in Paris.

He also created a few scaled-down versions of the main mirror, constructed from a series of glass slats set within a brushed steel frame. The main mirror measures 200 x 100 x 60 cm, while the small ones are 35 x 25 x 5 cm — retaining the sculptural character and sophisticated simplicity that define his practice.

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Words: Simone Lorusso