Following field research at the Marais d’Yves Nature Reserve (Charente-Maritime), carried out as part of the COAL Student Prize, designer Antoine Behaghel worked with the Fondation’s glass artisans, Valentin Rizzo and Gaëtan Oheix, to create new pieces that will complete the Artifices Chlorophyllien collection.

Inspired by the microscopic universe of photosynthetic phytoplankton, this research-based creative project reveals the beauty of marine organisms by bringing them into the realm of ornementation. Drawing on scientific data and imagery, Antoine Behaghel transforms these microscopic organisms into aesthetic forms. By making these organisms, invisible to the naked eye, yet essential to the planet’s atmospheric balance, visible, his work offers a sensitive and poetic perspective on contemporary ecological challenges.

These new works will be exhibited at the Fondation d’entreprise Martell in the Planctonarium, a hybrid space at the crossroads of design and science, developed by studio BehaghelFoiny in collaboration with Alexis Foiny.

Biography
Antoine Behaghel – Designer

Antoine Behaghel is a product designer. He graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (ENSAD) in 2024, as well as from the École Duperré in Paris as a textile designer. In his practice, he explores the narrative, performative and speculative potential of the object, imagining immersive universes that weave a link between the real and the virtual.

In 2024, Antoine Behaghel received the COAL Art and Environment Student Award for his project “Devenir Photosynthétique”.
In 2020, Antoine Behaghel and Alexis Foiny founded the design studio BehaghelFoiny. Together, they develop a transdisciplinary practice ranging from the manufacture of high-end furniture to space design.
On September 23, 2026, BehaghelFoiny won the Prix Révélation Design at the Grands Prix de la Création de la Ville de Paris.