Just months after establishing a European presence in Amsterdam, Sid Lee is opening a new office in Paris.
The Montreal-based agency confirmed it is making a move into Paris, but is close-lipped about the new endeavour, though one-time DDB Paris creative director Sylvain Thirache confirmed to the French trade media that he has been hired to get the new outpost off the ground.
After winning the worldwide Adidas Originals account last year, Sid Lee opened its Amsterdam office, which includes a cafe, gallery and retail store. Sid Lee prides itself pushing the boundaries of “commercial creativity” by hiring and working with a spectrum of creative talent that reaches well beyond traditional advertising.
At the time of the Amsterdam opening in November, Sid Lee president Jean-Francois Bouchard said the new location puts Sid Lee closer to clients and potential clients in Europe, Africa and Asia, and will also help attract international creative talent and provide a new platform for Sid Lee’s artists.
“This whole endeavour was not about coming here to try and win clients geographically,” said Bouchard. “It was about enriching our creative culture with new ideas, new people and new ways of doing things.”
The news of the Paris opening comes just days after Sid Lee confirmed it’s also opening Sid Lee Architecture in Montreal.
Led by Jean Pelland and Martin Leblanc, two of the co-founders of the now-closed firm Nomade, Sid Lee Architecture’s first project is a “boat-spa” for an unnamed client that should be docked on the shores of Montreal by October.
“It’s an old ferry, which was previously used as a boat-theatre,” said Leblanc. “This experience allowed us to break the usual rules in architecture.”
“Our partnership with Sid Lee enables us to push limits and expand our international opportunities,” added Leblanc. “We will explore even further our creativity and offer more complete architectural ideas.”
“The era of celebrity architects who draw their vision on a table corner then disappear is over,” he said. “For us, a space is more than just gypsum and ceramic, it is also the time people spend in it, the relevance of the functions, and the public and human perception.” —David Brown and Nicolas Ritoux
