Creation & Transition grants laureates

The Fondation d’entreprise Martell is pleased to announce the laureates of the “Creation & Transition” grants for its new residency program, which aims to support French and international creators eager to engage in or continue a research-creation project focused on the major challenges of our time.

Selected by a jury of art and design professionals from over 150 applications from various nationalities, these 16 projects, carried out by 21 designers, artists, architects, and humanities researchers, will be hosted in Cognac and given access to the Foundation’s workshops for a privileged time of experimentation, prototyping, and production. They will benefit from financial, technical, and scientific support, as well as connections with the Foundation’s network of partners to develop innovative projects combining thinking and design centered around resilience, sensitive to ecological and social issues, and anchored locally.

The 2025 grantees are:

Tin Ayala, artist-designer (Andes) / Camille Azaïs, writer, art critic (France) / Chloé Azzopardi, photographer (France) / Marlon Bagnou Beido & Soufyane El Koraichi, designers (France) / Daniel A. Barber, historian of architecture and environment, author, and professor (Netherlands) / Robin Bourgeois, designer (France) / Inès Bressand, designer, and Rémi Marilleau, textile artisan (France) / Anne Chaniolleau, playwright - Gironde & Claire Wallois, artist (France) / Alex Delbos-Gomez, object designer (France) / Carolina Fonseca, visual artist (Colombia) and Kim Détraux, sculptor and ceramicist (France) / Frugale Studio, collective: Anna Talec, set designer, and Julie Brugier, designer-researcher (France) / Lucie Gholam, designer (France–Lebanon) / Félixe Kazi-Tani, designer-researcher & H. Alix Sanyas, artist (France) / Hannes Mayer, architect, artist, and author (Germany) / Natacha Mankowski, artist (France) / Vicent Orts, designer (Spain).

The Jury was composed of Nathanaël Abeille (designer), Marlène Huissoud (designer), Emilie Villez (curator), Scott Longfellow (curator at Mudac), Olivier Peyricot (designer-researcher), and Anne-Claire Duprat (director of the Fondation d’entreprise Martell). The projects will be presented to the public through various events (lectures, exhibitions, workshops…), promoting the dissemination of the reflections initiated by the residents. At the end of their residency, the residents will contribute the results of their research to the living archive of the Almanach Lab, a participatory “open-source” tool and knowledge base of the region.

In addition to its own residency program, the Foundation has been hosting the recipients of the French Agora Design Grant, a pivotal figure in France’s design landscape, with whom it has become a partner since 2024: Lauriane Obry - tapestry maker, Elise Gay and Kevin Donnot—graphic designers and teachers, and Matteo Penza—designer-researcher.

About the Fondation d’entreprise Martell
In 2023, five years after its creation, Fondation d’entreprise Martell began a new chapter confirming its commitment to creators while evolving to work towards the ecological transition – the challenge of the century. Both a research and experimentation platform for professionals and a place for raising awareness and learning among the general public, its program, resolutely focused on the future, prioritizes supporting the emergence of innovative projects with a regenerative dimension.

A firm believer that design and art are essential levers of transformation within society—whether by creating new imaginaries or coming up with new uses, the Foundation aims to support a new generation of creators who are keen to pave new ways towards a resilient and sustainable future.