Breath of an architect

It is a true experience. This exhibition stirs in the visitor an unusual sensation of tranquillity and harmony. “Bijoy Jain. Studio Mumbai. Breath of an Architect” is on display until 21st April at the Fondation Cartier. Its title is a good indicator of the role of the conductor of this extraordinary show. But contrary to what you might expect, this is no showcase of models of buildings and other hymns to classical architecture.

Serene space

Bijoy Jain. Studio Mumbai

For the occasion, the site designed by Jean Nouvel has been transformed into a beautifully serene space where objects, some pictures and sculptures all contribute, without us being able to tell who did what. We imbibe this fluid atmosphere of indeterminate origin. Is it an Indian or Japanese style? It is delicately animated by earthy colours that are as peaceful as the forms.

Bijoy Jain

The main protagonist, Bijoy Jain, was born in Mumbai in 1965 and is familiar to those in the know after having exhibited, among others, at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2016 with his practice, Studio Mumbai. We’re aware that some of his projects include an armchair for Hermès, a hotel in the Hiroshima prefecture of Japan, the Lantern Onomichi Garden, and a wine cellar currently being installed at Châteauneuf du Pape, Château Beau Castel.

Mini details of architecture

Bijoy Jain. Studio Mumbai

In Paris, Jain is only displaying small pieces of architecture like some mini details in stone and an ultra-simple cabin structure where bamboo sticks are tied together with silk rope. Further away there’s a large chalk drawing, a stone bestiary created by Indian artisans, ceramics by the Turkish artist who lives in Paris, Alev Ebuzziya Siesbye (born in 1938), black drawings by Chinese artist Hu Liu (born in 1982) and also remarkable benches made from bamboo sticks hung with spider-like threads.

Calm

Bijoy Jain. Studio Mumbai

“Just after lockdown the head of the Fondation Cartier, Hervé Chandès, suggested a project between silence and tension. I added the word calm. Then it developed,” explains Bijoy Jain. The architect likes to embrace concepts rather than material data. For him the discipline “is not about making buildings but creating spaces. Music, poetry and gardens are also forms of architecture.”

Engaging body and mind

Bijoy Jain. Studio Mumbai

At the Fondation Cartier the relative ambiguity around the authorship of this or that piece was deliberate. “It allows the visitor to be more part of the space. I want to create a feeling. It engages the body and mind.”

Son of a doctor

Bijoy Jain. Studio Mumbai

It was most likely during Bijoy Jain’s childhood, as the son of a doctor in Bombay, that he learned to find the ability to create this skilful alchemy. “My early years were extraordinary in a city that wasn’t as densely populated as it is today. There were hippies, communists, doctors, singers – like my mother, who is an Indian classical singer – dancers… It was a melting pot that I observed when I was 6 to 7 years old. And then every year we would spend two months travelling all over the place.”

Grundtvig church in Copenhagen

Bijoy Jain. Studio Mumbai

In this way the architect haphazardly cites things that first made an aesthetic impact on him, such as the Ellora caves dating from the 2^nd century BC in the state of Maharashtra, and the extraordinary Grundtvig church in Copenhagen conceived in 1921 by Danish architect Peder Vilhelm Jensen-Klint. “What I know comes from my parents. From this childhood I retain above all a very particular sense of light.” The one he seems to be seeking to transcribe in his projects.

Studio Mumbai

Bijoy Jain. Studio Mumbai

He says that these days Studio Mumbai, his firm based in the megacity, employs 25 people. It runs according to the rhythm of the projects but also of the seasons. “It is an agile and malleable structure. During monsoon season, for example, many people return to their villages to cultivate the land. Our task involves executing a sort of choreography that plays without clashing with the local rhythms and other imperatives such as to do with the economy, creating an equilibrium.”

To die gracefully

Bijoy Jain. Studio Mumbai

To conclude, when we ask Jain about his next dream his preference is that it takes the form of a wish. He pauses for a moment. Suddenly serious, he says: “I’d like to die gracefully. With no prejudice.”

The interview has reached its end.

Bijoy Jain. Studio Mumbai

Until 21 April. Bijoy Jain. Studio Mumbai. www.fondationcartier.com