“Brutalism doesn’t fully represent who i am” says Arthur Moulucou
SENSORY JOURNAL caught up with French designer Arthur Moulucou to discuss the formative years he spent working abroad, the discipline behind his daily practice and how those experiences ultimately led him toward furniture design and a hands-on approach to making.
In Arthur Moulucou’s workshop, set inside an old barn in the French countryside, the designer describes his routine as “a constant movement between the house and the workshop, and between the creative process and production.” But the path that led him here began far from this quiet rural setting.
Trained as an architect in Bordeaux, Moulucou spent five formative years in Bangkok between 2017 and 2022, an experience that exposed him to a radically different way of thinking about design. “I was young, inexperienced, and architecture was not easily accessible to foreigners,” he recalls.
Arriving in Bangkok, Moulucou entered a city whose pace and complexity stood in stark contrast to the restrained minimalism of his architectural education. After numerous unsuccessful interviews, a landscape architecture studio eventually offered him an opportunity, marking the beginning of an intense period of professional and personal growth.
“It was a completely new world,” he says. “A fully Thai team, a local salary, endless paperwork for my work permit, and a steep learning curve. I had to work twice as hard to catch up, but it reshaped the way I think and design.”
The experience proved demanding, but formative. Living and working in Thailand sharpened both his eye and his mindset as a designer while teaching him resilience under pressure. During this time, he worked closely with highly respected Thai landscape architect Kotchakorn Voraakhom, whose approach to landscape and urban ecology left a lasting impression on his creative approach.
What impressed Moulucou most, however, was the Thai mindset toward making.
“What I admire most is the Thai attitude toward creation: a kind of creative freedom and fearlessness. There is less hesitation, less fear of imperfection. You try, you adapt, and you keep going.”
The experience helped him move beyond the rigid norms of his early training and trust his instincts more freely.
Thailand also introduced him to what he describes as a form of practical intelligence.
“With fewer constraints, the creative process feels more fluid and immediate. Ideas can be tested, adapted and produced quickly through close collaboration with skilled craftsmen.”
That direct relationship between design and fabrication continues to shape the way he develops his work today.
“You try, you adapt, and you keep going.” - Arthur Moulucou
After several intense years in Bangkok, a personal loss eventually prompted Moulucou to return to France in 2022. Back in his hometown, surrounded by family, he began reassessing both the direction of his work and the pace of his life.
“From there, the next step felt very natural,” he says. “I continued developing my own designs, but I began producing my work myself. My designs evolved with my surroundings, and materials like acrylic gradually gave way to wood and metal.”
Working from the barn that now houses his workshop, Moulucou gradually shifted toward a more hands-on practice, developing furniture directly through fabrication and material experimentation.
SENSORY JOURNAL: Metal often gives an impression of cold or rigid. What feeling do you want to evoke through your design?
Arthur Moulucou: Today, my work sits somewhere between functionalism, brutalism, and low-tech design.
It’s a direct and honest approach, where structure, process, and material are never hidden.
What interests me most is the contradiction between permanence and humility. I want my pieces to feel timeless and durable (capable of lasting a lifetime) while remaining simple, adaptable, and easy to disassemble.
A piece can exist for a long time, then disappear, transform, or become something else. This flexibility brings a sense of softness and humanity to metal, despite its industrial nature.
“What interests me most is the contradiction between permanence and humility.” - Arthur Moulucou
SENSORY JOURNAL: You work very hands-on. What part of the making process is the most enjoyable for you?
Arthur Moulucou: Prototyping and assembly are when the work truly comes alive. This is where ideas become tangible, and where I constantly look for ways to refine and optimise my production process by exploring new tools and techniques.
The rest is mostly sanding, a necessary but unglamorous reality.
SENSORY JOURNAL: From starting your own workshop to producing bespoke furniture with interior designers, how does it feel to see those pieces out in the wild?
Arthur Moulucou: It still feels a bit unreal. I often discover my pieces through Instagram, in interiors far from my own.
Meanwhile, I live with them daily, among prototypes, my housemates’ children’s toys, and the quiet disorder of countryside life, in a space that couldn’t be further from a curated image.
View this post on InstagramMoulucou’s work may appear industrial at first glance, but it emerges from a deeply personal process shaped by place, experience and making.
Back in the quiet setting of his countryside workshop, the designer continues to refine this language while exploring new ways of working with metal.
At the same time, he is beginning to question the strict brutalist identity that has defined much of his work so far.
“Brutalism and a certain sense of coldness don’t fully represent who I am,” he says. “They’ve acted more like a protective layer.”
His recent experiments with marking processes on metal point toward a more sensitive and expressive direction for the future of his practice.
