Jean Servais Somian studied between the Ivory Coast and Switzerland, at the Georges Ghandour woodworking and cabinetmaking center in Abidjan, at the Grand-Bassam artisanal center and then at the Daniel Beck design and conception agency in Lausanne. After many years spent between Africa and Europe, Jean Servais' creations are revealed as mixed. Produced in very small series and endowed with a strong personality, his pieces, which sometimes border on sculpture, are nonetheless functional and utilitarian.
His contemporary design carries a part of ancestrality. One of his particularities lies in the choice of materials such as coconut, ebony or amazaque wood, but also certain objects from everyday African life revisited such as basins, sponges or old fishermen's dugouts.
Jean Servais Somian has multiplied the solo and group shows in the United States, Latin America, Europe and Africa in prestigious spaces: galleries, museums such as the Quai Branly in Paris in 2021, as well as Foundations in Geneva, Cologne, Paris, Dakar, Algiers, Aachen. In 2018, he created his design studio in Grand-Bassam. His art has joined illustrious collections around the world: notably Matthias & Gervanne Leridon and King Mohammed VI of Morocco.
