Born in Aix-en-Provence, France in 1978, Barcelona-based designer Sébastien Cordoleani attended the École nationale supérieure des arts appliqués et des métiers d'art (ENSAAMA) in Paris, graduating in 1988. He then attended the French design school École nationale supérieure de création industrielle (ENSCI), graduating with honors in 2004. In 2001, while still in school, he worked as an assistant for Spanish designer Antoni Arola. After school, in 2005, Cordoleani joined Andrée Putman's studio and between 2006 and 2010 he worked alongside Frank Fontana. He established Studio Cordoleani in 2009 and lives and works in Aix-en-Provence, Paris, and Barcelona.
Cordoleani’s function-driven work includes industrial, interior, and furniture designs. He has collaborated with the likes of Audi, Cinna, and Villa Noailles. Of note, Cordoleani’s Matière à penser (Food for thought), an ongoing, long-term project the designer began in 2006, involves a series of objects produced using unconventional techniques and locally available materials. Through this project, he has established partnerships with a range of manufacturers and craftsmen, including Selaneuf, the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, the sweet manufacturer Papabubble, and numerous craftsmen in Japan and Mexico. The project has earned him the Grand Prix de la Création de la Ville de Paris in 2005, a residency at the Villa Kujoyama in Kyoto in 2007, and the Grand Prix Design Parade 3 at Villa Noailles.
