Chacha Atallah is an architect, artist, journalist and designer … She has just opened an elegant showroom in La Marsa, on the Maalaga road in front of the famous Carthage cisterns. SLOW is a young publishing house of contemporary furniture and objects that publishes in limited edition pieces of design with noble materials and impeccable finishes. Interview. By Amel DJAIT
1001tunisie: Is not a publishing house a bit provocative or teasing? Don’t we say publishing house especially for books?
Chacha Atallah: Yes. That is true ! We all have the idea of a publishing house for a book but one can be publisher of many other products including furniture. In fact, we have writers, who are our designers and we make what they design! It is in this that we are publishing house.
I made the first SLOW collection in 2016. In 2017, we will surely have another designer. Our ambition is to appeal to young talents to create contemporary collections with a sober and refined design.
Is SLOW going to present an edition every year?
Not really. It is according to our favorites. You know the maturation of a collection is very long!
What is a collection? How is a collection drawn? What is the link between your platform and the designers you will be working on?
A collection starts quantitatively from 2 pieces. But, a collection is above all a spirit. For us, the SLOW design is fundamental. In our concept, there is a real notion of time. A notion of time to reflection, creation and manufacture. We use materials that fit in time like wood or marble.
At home, it is above all a history of encounters and harmony between the designer and the house. A publishing house, even if it brings together several designers, has an identity. Our own is that of sober lines, of great attention to detail. We like to make a few unique pieces … .This is really our particularity!
Can this furniture fit a Tunisian interior today?
And how ! You know the furniture is more related to people than to space. It is mobile by definition and therefore moves according to desires and needs.
What would be the object of the Tunisian heritage that gives you the most desire to treat it?
I’ll tell you the bench. The “bank” of our home will be revisited by SLOW! In the furnishings of our grandmothers, many objects like the “mida” are slows even if they have somewhat disappeared because they are not very practical.
Why is Tunisian design still so timid?
I think there too, it’s a matter of time! You know, the world is beginning to open up to design. So we do not sound as late as that! In the United States, where I was lately, there is still very little design!
Which are the Tunisian houses that attract your attention?
I would tell you small publishing houses that make objects like FLAYOU or NOKTA! There is of course Aurélia Bouyssonie who does very beautiful things. I do not know all of them but this period is dynamic. It is very important for Tunisian design. You know, the more you buy Tunisian design, the more it will happen. Consumer demand will push us to improve.
At time when Tunisia is rebuilding, do you think that the Tunisian creativity is at the rendezvous? Do you think that crafts, for example, is improving?
I do not know about crafts! I do not think so ! We have an extremely modern craft. Our aesthetic is pure and totally to the taste of the day. It is easy to readjust. We need to better structure this!
As for us, we are not on this category, but we will work to rehabilitate certain objects of our traditional heritage.
What is SLOW’s flagship piece? What is your product core?
I would have a hard time choosing, but let’s say that our core business is the tables for the office, for dining, for the living room … .We also work the buffet. It is a major piece that dresses, remains useful and adapts to everything!
Address: 46, route de Carthage ( route de la malaga). La marsa.
Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday from 10:30 am to 6:30 pm
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