Eugène Riconneaus

is a French artist, designer, and material innovator whose work merges contemporary art, environmental research, and material experimentation. Born in La Rochelle and raised in a fishing family on France’s Atlantic coast, his enduring connection to the ocean forms the backbone of a practice grounded in ecological sensitivity, ocean conservation, and regenerative design.

He first gained recognition at 19 through collaborations with ARTE and filmmaker Larry Clark, capturing youth and skateboarding culture through photography and painting. His early series, Scar of the City, explored the urban surface as a memory imprint — already revealing an obsession with trace, texture, and material language.

In the early 2010s, Riconneaus launched a women’s footwear line that embraced circular design before the term was widespread. Crafted from deadstock materials, his shoes were featured in cult concept stores like Colette, 10 Corso Como, and Joyce, and worn by cultural icons including Monica Bellucci and Grace Jones. His success led to collaborations with Supreme NYC, Dr. Martens, and Mercedes-Benz, confirming his position as a creative operating between independent design and fashion systems.

In 2020, confronted with the accumulation of plastic and marine litter along the Atlantic coast, Riconneaus shifted his practice toward the study of marine ecosystems and the valorization of invasive algae. He began integrating marine waste and ocean-derived biomaterials into his artworks, merging formal exploration with ecological urgency. This shift culminated in a projection at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York during the 2022 UN General Assembly, where he presented this new chapter of work focused on art as a driver of ocean awareness and material transition.

He has since developed pigments and polymers from marine biomass — including seafood shells, invasive seaweed, and ghost fishnets — while formulating a theory of “decycling,” a strategy aimed at avoiding the reintroduction of plastics into ocean ecosystems. His studio evolved into a hybrid lab, leading to the creation of ER Ocean Recherche, a scientific research project dedicated to marine-based material innovation. The platform develops alternatives such as algae-based fibers and leather substitutes, positioning art as a vector for applied ocean solutions.

In 2024, Riconneaus presented a bioluminescent light installation at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, using living cyanobacteria. That same year, his work was featured at the Luma Foundation as part of Innovate for Nature Prize along ER Ocean Recherche and he was selected as one of the exhibiting artists at the ChangeNOW Exposition Universelle at the Grand Palais, where he introduced a new generation of marine materials ready for industrial scale.

Now working between Paris, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, and Portugal, Riconneaus continues to blur the boundaries between artistic gesture, scientific process, and ecological stewardship. Through ER Ocean Recherche, his practice becomes a system of co-creation with the ocean — one that questions the role of the artist today: should we transmit knowledge, or materiality?