Professional Practice

Zim and Zou is an artist duo from Nancy, France, founded in 2007 by Lucie Thomas and Thibault Zimmermann. Known for their handmade paper crafts, three-dimensional installations, and scenography, they specialise in transforming traditional materials such as paper, wood, and leather into fantastical contemporary artworks. Their works blend craftsmanship, narrative, and surreal aesthetics, often in collaboration with luxury brands, commercial spaces, and art organisations, redefining the boundaries between handmade art and commercial design. (Zim & Zou, 2021)

Graduating from a graphic design degree, they create three-dimensional handmade items using a variety of materials. With their craftsmanship.

They create all the elements by hand, culminating in a colourful window display.

I went to Bond Street because I heard that there were many interesting and designed windows there. I looked for those representative windows on the street and took a lot of photos.

The final product and page design I made revolve around the theme of the Dragon King Temple, so I want to study its background.

Dragon King Temples, as the physical embodiment of the cult of the Dragon King, are found all over China. Whether they are sea dragon king temples or inland dragon king temples, they carry people's aspirations for a better life. (Nai, 2024)

I watched the online exhibitions of the Henan History Museum and the Shaanxi History Museum. Offline, I went to the British Museum to find the traces of Chinese dragons and prepare for the final dragon image design.

Most of the British museums are dragons from the Qing Dynasty or the Ming Dynasty. Their bodies are like snakes, and there is not much difference from the current dragons, while the Tang Dynasty dragons (pictures with white borders) I saw in Chinese museums are more like tigers.

I watched this short film, and I like the image of the protagonist in it very much. Because this is a stop-motion animation, their protagonists are made of clay and use roughness to express the mental state of the protagonist.

Zim and Zou

Outcome research

Dragon King Tempel

The image of the dragon in the Tang Dynasty

Different windows

Faubourg, The Time Machine

Chnmus.net. (2022). 鎏金铁芯铜龙. [online] Available at: https://www.chnmus.net/sitesources/hnsbwy/page_pc/bwzl/jxysyhjsqjytzgygbz/zjzy/articled5a7d90fe2c54097b4dfe7e09
b98f244.html [Accessed 7 Apr. 2025].

Nai, N. (2024). 🐉龙王庙：中国传统文化中的神秘力量🌊. [online] Baidu.com. Available at: https://mbd.baidu.com/newspage/data/dtlandingsuper?nid=dt_4651551643736292614&sourceFrom=search_s [Accessed 7 Apr. 2025].

Pardgroup. (2024). Cartier | Pardgroup. [online] Available at: https://www.pardgroup.com/en/portfolio/cartier?utm_source=chatgpt.com [Accessed 8 Apr. 2025].

Sina.cn. (2025). 六月十三龙王节_大光圈_新浪博客. [online] Available at: https://blog.sina.cn/dpool/blog/s/blog_67f6760c0100kczn.html [Accessed 7 Apr. 2025].

Shanmon (2025). 勿忘我. [online] Youtu.be. Available at: https://youtu.be/CcF5WIl4sGw?feature=shared [Accessed 8 Apr. 2025].

Zim & Zou (2021). Zim&Zou (@zimandzou) • Instagram photos and videos. [online] Instagram.com. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/zimandzou?igsh=d2xoaXNzMWV5Yjh3 [Accessed 7 Apr. 2025].

Zimandzou.fr. (n.d.). Zim & Zou - About. [online] Available at: https://zimandzou.fr/about.

key illustrators

On the street, I passed by Cartier's window and was amazed by their simple window design, and drew a simple draft. These four windows are a whole series. The background behind each window has animal characteristics (zebras, crocodiles, leopards, birds), which sets off the items they want to display very well.

Usually, this brand has its own interior designers to design windows for them, but under special circumstances, it will still cooperate with many artists or studios.

Cartier

(Chnmus.net, 2022)

Memorable

Reference

Pardgroup was responsible for designing, producing, and installing shop windows, pop-ins, and pop-ups for the brand’s boutiques in Italy and around the world. Work carried out: shop windows created by Multimedia Art students, giving a second life to “waste” materials. (Pardgroup, 2024)

They usually spend several months creating. Among them, this cooperation is only to highlight the concept of environmental protection, reuse a lot of waste items, avoid the ethical problems that may be caused by window design that are not environmentally friendly, and give materials new artistic life, which not only highlights the concept of environmental protection, but also fits the current trend of sustainable development.

Pardgroup

Thier Client

Briefs

The theme is time machine, you can see that each window has a small machine that travels through different worlds, and they use paper sculpture to make different features of these worlds, the colours are bright and visually appealing, attracting people's attention.

Usually, it takes them several months to make a window, of course, it depends on the size of the window.

They have designed windows for Hermès, IBM, Microsoft, TIME, The Washington Post, Der Spiegel, Nobel Prize Museum, etc. And these pictures are their window design for Hermes, and it is a winter window.

Timescale