Kazbard

Alexandre Drabzak
Artist Designer

Self-taught, curious, and passionate, I see my work as a continuous exploration. Trained as a biologist, I gradually developed an interest in conception, design, and artistic creation, driven by an instinct that left me no other choice. Adventurous by nature, I place no limits on the fields through which I express myself, while always maintaining a deep connection with nature, which remains essential to me.

The creative process, whatever it may be, must have meaning. In this regard, my work always begins by immersing myself in the values of my clients, as well as the human, cultural, and environmental context in which my designs are meant to integrate. To overlook either, for me, would be meaningless. Only then does my own contribution emerge — deeply instinctive and intuitive — enriching what already exists with my imagination in order to distill a synthesis, the fruit of which will be destined to find its independence while fostering community.

Working Together: The Creative Process

My creativity is largely intuitive. The creations I value most emerge from a process of letting go, revealing themselves to me as clear, almost self-evident images. In my approach, there is no “research” in the intellectual sense of the word, and any attempt to rationalize the process afterward feels artificial to me. However, there is a process I can describe.

Essentially, it begins with building a subtle connection with you. This connection allows me to integrate, beyond the subject of the commission itself, something that belongs to you, something you may not express, but which I will have perceived.

This is why the relationship we build, the trust we share, and the values we hold in common occupy a central place in my work.

At the same time, the project sparks a personal desire, perhaps for a particular material, color, style, or scale. And when all these elements converge, a synthesis imposes itself upon me, uniting them; this is the birth of the object, both new and independent.

I work with partners from vastly different worlds, sometimes perceived as incompatible. Yet, an original and fundamental thread runs through them: our shared humanity. My creations seek to make this connection perceptible, without forcing it, without explaining it.

I expect nothing else than the appropriation of my work. When, beyond aesthetics and functionality, I see a piece dissolve boundaries and give rise to a form of shared sensibility and community, I find my greatest reward.

I believe that the most accurate expression, the one that achieves consensus, is often the simplest, the most spontaneous. Not out of a rejection of intellect, but because instinct brings us back to something more essential.

Creation is always, at its core, a self-centered act, but if it rests on that alone, it holds little interest for me. Like life itself, creation only has meaning if it conveys something beyond itself.

If the work does not generate emotion, if it does not momentarily hold one’s breath, it transmits nothing, it reflects nothing. Carl Jung spoke of the reflection of ourselves in those who attract us; in the same way, I feel that a work of art is a mirror in which a part of ourselves can be reflected. This is what touches us, and it is this subtle and silent encounter that I seek to gently caress.

Profile

Holds a Master’s degree in “Environmental Issues Expertise”.
Holds a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture.
Environmental consultant and ecologist.
Urban planner-environmentalist. Development of Local Urban Plans (PLU), Territorial Diagnostic, Land-use and Development Plan.
Project Manager for tourism development projects. Public and private project management contracts in the building and landscaping sectors.
Designer and Eco-designer.
Company Manager.
Winner of the Talents 2007 competition for business creation in Midi-Pyrénées.

Academic and Career Path

2002: Obtained a Master’s degree in “Environmental Issues Expertise”.
2002-2003: Teacher (Ministry of Agriculture).
2003-2006: Project Manager at the Natural History Museum of Toulouse.
2006-2018: Founded the consulting firm Génie nature SARL. Manager from 2006 to 2016, Director from 2016 to 2018.
2008-2015: Founded Pôle environnement SARL. Manager from 2008 to 2015.
2020: Bachelor’s degree in Architecture – ENSA Toulouse

Being Self-Taught is an Odyssey

Being self-taught is not the easiest choice. Although, in a way, I didn’t have that choice! Something other than ambition pushed me towards creation, far from my background and initial training. With a master’s degree in biology, I felt very comfortable in the “living world,” which remains a true passion for me. But another part of myself was calling me elsewhere.

After exploring teaching, I joined the Natural History Museum of Toulouse as a botanist to lead the implementation of an educational garden project (the Museum’s gardens) that my friend Boris Presseq and I, students at the time, had envisioned a few years earlier. From then on, I began to pick up the drawing pencil to design.

Once the project was completed, the site constructed, and the teams in place, I eventually left this structure to create my own company as an expert ecologist. The managerial role assigned to me then interested me far less than my independence.

The rest of my professional experience can be likened to an odyssey where the gods of reason and conditioning battled against an inner Ulysses, who had but one goal (which I only understood at the end): to find his Ithaca, the realm of my sovereignty, freedom, and imagination.

Since then, I have had the opportunity to work on projects of all sizes, ranging from a private garden to the territory of a regional natural park, and of all kinds: from the creation of objects for mass distribution to the establishment of urban planning schemes and regulations. I worked with clients—whom I prefer to call partners—from all walks of life, whether political, religious, or associative, and across vastly different scales, from individuals to major institutional bodies, such as Departmental Councils. I can say that each project was a formative adventure.

During this odyssey, it was difficult for me to embrace my status as a creator, which remained confidential and marginalized behind my diplomas and expert status. But “Ulysses” proved strong and persevering, eventually overcoming the gods and finding his island.

It was only after more than ten years that the inner journey came to an end, finally allowing me to consider myself, and openly embrace my role as a conceptualizer, designer, and artist; this with all humility, simply in light of the journey accomplished, happy to return to this native land where I am sovereign.

I did all this without formal training, without apprenticeship, without “tutorials” or webinars; I didn’t even read a design book. When I entered the National School of Architecture in Toulouse, at the age of 42, I didn’t know that I was already at the end of this journey, but I quickly understood that I was only there for a piece of paper. My true learning was already accomplished, supported by a spontaneity and confidence that came from deep within me.