The story of Hall Haus began not with a single designed or produced object, but with four people whose varied paths converged in Paris. Abdoulaye Niang studied at ENSCI Les Ateliers, a renowned school of French design known for its experimental approach, and went on to work at the luxury house Louis Vuitton. Sammy Bernoussi, also an ENSCI graduate, brought his experience from Chanel’s design ateliers. Teddy Sanches carried with him imprints of Audi Talents, a creative incubator and a residency at Villa Kujoyama in Kyoto, Japan, known for fostering cross-cultural projects. Zakari Boukhari trained as an engineer at Arts et Métiers, one of France’s grand écoles, and had first worked with Bouygues Construction, a global engineering firm. Each arrived from a different route, but together, they formed a collective that treated design as more than a profession—as a way of translating and coalescing the cultures, codes and environments that shaped them.

The collective's christening too—its name—tells a story. Hall recalls the spaces of their upbringing: the housing blocks, neighbourhoods and shared halls where hip-hop culture and community life took root. Haus gestures toward the Bauhaus, the modernist movement that made design a tool for everyday life. Between the two words lies the outline of their practice—design grounded in identity, accessible in form and open in meaning.

From the Curry Mango armchair which fused a Quechua camping chair with Marcel Breuer’s Wassily Chair—a 1925 Bauhaus icon of tubular steel modernism—to the Olympic Bench, a wide-steel and concrete seat conceived as an alternative to the hostile benches that fragment public space; along with the DKR Chair, a perforated steel reinterpretation of the African palabre seat—a low communal chair traditionally used for village discussions—that later entered the Mobilier National collections, the collective has built a portfolio of works that are both inventive and socially attuned. Their projects move fluidly between geographies, from Dakar, Al Ula and Mexico City to Paris, as well as across disciplines, spanning transforming a 19th-century console into a DJ’s workstation with 1880 BPM—its title fusing the object’s 1880s origin with the tempo of contemporary music—and creating Playground in Senegal, a large-scale installation that used the visual language of basketball courts to explore sport as a conduit for community and culture.

The same philosophy underpinned their role at the recently concluded Maison&Objet, where they were tasked with directing the Design District. Their scenography drew on the languages of sport and gaming—banners, tifos (the giant fan displays seen in football stadiums), ground markings and modular logos to animate the fair with codes that were popular and legible. The stand also served as a testing ground for industrial design principles within the context of a major fair. Modularity, multifunction and durability became the drivers of their new pieces, signalling a shift away from spectacle toward furniture that responded to real, everyday needs. In a reflective conversation with STIR, Sammy Bernoussi, speaking on behalf of Hall Haus, discussed their design philosophy, the opportunity at Maison&Objet and what they hoped visitors would carry away from the experience.

Aarthi Mohan: Your work integrates culture, experience, functionality and has even entered Mobilier National’s collections. How would you say your multidisciplinary background and multicultural heritage shaped this project and your design approach at large?

Sammy Bernoussi: Our design approach was based on references borrowed from several cultures and shared universes. This allowed for a constant back-and-forth between cultural identity and design. Once integrated into our creations, these references gave rise to a new, accessible narrative that both novices and design scholars could understand. We created from our identity; it was something natural for us. Our inspiration stemmed from the environments in which we operated, and we integrated technical dimensions through our knowledge of materials and manufacturing processes. 

Aarthi: You were entrusted with the artistic direction of the Design District. What was your vision for shaping this space as an “incubator of creative energies” and what did this opportunity mean for your collective?

Sammy: We were commissioned by SAFI Salon to create the artistic direction and signage. This involved designing the space and considering the layout of the graphics so that visitors could easily navigate the rest of the show. We also acted as Ambassadors for this space, promoting young designers, brands and emerging talent. It was an honour for us to represent avant-garde design in this setting.

Aarthi: You debuted a furniture collection at the fair. What themes, materials or narratives did you explore in this new collection, and how did it tie into your broader design ethos?

Sammy: Contrary to the vocabulary of other design fairs, our collection wasn’t a limited edition; we advocated accessible design in our approach. Our goal was to offer affordable furniture by leveraging our mastery of industrial processes and economies of scale. In France, metalworking is one of the few industries accessible to small-scale designers, which allowed us to develop high-quality furniture without heavy investment in tooling. 

This collection drew from the story of the Olympic bench and the DKR chair, which were reimagined as a stool that was adaptable as a coffee table or a sofa extension and as a modular storage system inspired by Tetris, capable of endless configurations. Our aim was simple. It was to propose furniture designs at the price of a pair of sneakers, pieces that could evolve and adapt to the shifting needs of our audience.

Aarthi: Your visual identity and scenography drew on sports and urban graphic codes such as banners, ground markings, pennants, tifos and modular logos. How did these references inform the visitor experience and creative narrative of the Design District?

Sammy: We used a nomenclature specific to the worlds of sports and video games, where attributes and performances of a team’s players are often indicated. This system created unity among the different designers and allowed for an easy, playful reading like a card game. We enjoy confronting universes that are not usually connected, because it generates originality and appeal. These references are also popular and accessible, ensuring that a wider audience can engage with the space and, hopefully, return for future editions.

Aarthi: The collective’s modular logo adapted across formats from physical installations to digital media. How did visual flexibility support the narrative you were building, and how do you see these design systems evolving beyond the showcase?

Sammy: We designed a logo that could adapt to new communication media, including social platforms. The three-dimensional base logo invited visitors to photograph themselves with it and share it online. When visitors embraced this narrative, they effectively became ambassadors within their communities, allowing for organic dissemination. For us, this adaptability wasn’t just about branding; it was about giving people tools to participate in and extend the story.

Aarthi: Looking back, what had you hoped visitors would carry from experiencing the Design District under your direction? How much of that would you say you were able to achieve?

Sammy: We hoped they left the show with the impression of having visited an inspiring, contemporary place. Most of all, we wanted them to feel compelled to return for the next edition.  

For Hall Haus, Maison&Objet was less a stage for spectacle than a chance to test how their ideas translated at scale. Their scenography drew on visual languages that visitors already understood but reframed them in a design context, lowering the threshold for entry. Their collections, designed to evolve over time and remain accessible, pointed to a different future for design fairs as well, where new work doesn’t have to exist only in the realm of limited editions.

Looking ahead, the collective’s strength lies in this adaptability along with methodical consistency. Whether through creating objects, installations or educational encounters, the collective approaches design as a living system—one that listens to its context, reshapes itself and keeps its doors open. Their work at Maison&Objet did not mark a culmination so much as a visible milestone in a practice that continues to move between the local and the global, the industrial and the cultural.