Nicolas Trüb

Nicolas Trüb got introduced to us as "the most creative person" Etienne's dad knew.

If it is difficult verifying this statement, it is safe to say he is up-there for us too!

In 1995, Trüb quit his job as an engineer to found his own design company, Stilic Force. He describes this process as "going on retirement at 29 years old" in the eponymic book, but in French.

The thing is, design company can mean many different things, right ? So let's describe a few of Trüb's designs.

One of his definite best sellers is the "Babyplane", a plane-shaped spoon to help babies to eat their meals.

Then there's way too many "Hammer & Sickle" designs - Communist beer openers, Communist shelf (this is a pun in French : L'Etat-Gère...... étagère, the shelf ; The State Administers..... listen, puns are hard to translate, okay), Ma-Eau bottles (Mao..... okay most of these are puns in French so I give up on you non-francophiles).

Not all his inventions are jokes either - a lot are -, take for example the Sav-o-sec, a small tripod on which you can fix your soap so it stays dry : Genius !

Or take the Cyclospace, a "muscle powered car", a quite funny looking blend between the bike and the car. Also interesting.

No joke, he actually got some prestigious prizes in France for some of his inventions. It's called Concours Lépine, he has a few diplomas that are proudly exhibited in his Shop.

In 2006, Trüb opened a physical place to work and sell his inventions, La boutique du Futur (The Shop from the Future), in Montrouge, in the close suburbs South of Paris. Here he has his atelier, as well as a small gallery where he can expose his newest deliriums.

When we payed him a visit in December 12024, he had just opened an exhibition about, frankly, the first good and interesting use of "AI art" we had seen. It was a pun-based exhibition of fake posters advertising well known artists, as a pun based on their name, but in the style of the original artist. Interesting stuff.

There was also some "Books" to be bought, with only the Front and Back pages. Who reads the rest anyway ?

A quite interesting man, with a lot of funny ideas.

If you're interested in seeing more from Trüb, go visit him in Montrouge at La Boutique du Futur. Or check him out on his website.

https://laboutiquedufutur.com/