Camille Charron

The Fountain

 

 

 

Photos by Camille Charron

La Fontaine is a project born of a double investigation carried out both in the Vosges Mountains and in the urban environment of Nancy, around a vital resource: water. At La Vigotte, a small village criss-crossed by springs and semi-artificial ponds, I designed a sensitive trail punctuated by ceramic stones. Underneath these stones, activities invite visitors to observe, touch, measure, draw... The aim: to relearn how to read the landscape and become aware of the cycles of green water, essential to the climate. These hybrid stones, carefully crafted and deliberately artificial, question our relationship with nature and reveal the tensions of a site undergoing ecological transformation.

In parallel, my urban exploration focused on soil porosity and the place of living things in the city. I worked on 3D-printed porous structures capable of capturing moisture and welcoming spontaneous vegetation. These pieces, conceived as works of art, question the role of cleaners and propose a more permeable city, where the regeneration of water and soil becomes manifest and visible.

In both cases, design acts as a mediator between environments, knowledge and practices: it is not just a question of creating objects, but of devising paths, tools and narratives that make the territory understandable and collectively habitable.

My approach is part of a critical and inclusive ecology, attentive to social dynamics, situated knowledge and local forms of governance. It links matter, memory and collective action, and questions what we choose to preserve, transform or allow to happen. More than a project, La Fontaine is a call to relearn how to see and inhabit the invisible flows that run through our environments.