Marie Cornil (b.1994) and Alexandre Willaume (b.1987) met in 2018 during their participation at Design parade 13 at the Villa Noailles in  Hyères. Their backgrounds are indicative of complementarities, Marie studied visual arts at HEAD in Geneva before joining Ecal in Lausanne, while Alexandre completed his training in industrial design at ENSCI - Les Ateliers, also benefiting from a university exchange in San Francisco at the California College of Art.

In 2018, Alexandre had already been working at the Bouroullec studio for nine years, when Marie joined the studio for two years.

Each developing their personal practices, that of painting and sculpture for Alexandre with WANC and textile and color work for Marie, they present together during the summer 2021, the Mobile series at the Villa Noailles which marks the beginning of their work around the red clay of Salerne.

The particularity and the strength of the duo are based on the dialogue that Marie and Alexandre establish between themselves and craftsmen-artists. This relationship of curiosity between the two designers is the bearer of fertile collaborations. They apprehend each situation by discovering the materials, their techniques and the know-how of the craftsmen to design objects by an approach that is not hylomorphic.  They implement the art du terrain, in which Making is central. Their itinerancy leads them to imagine objects as landscapes or living collections. Their current collaboration with Editors encourages them to think of objects with a wider distribution that complement the collectible approach of the very small series imagined for the gallery.

The duo began a cycle of exhibitions at the Galerie signé in September 2022 with a presentation of lights entitled Horizon, followed in January 2023 by Iris, an open research on the mirror object and its reflections. The same year, at signé they presented the exhibitions Végétasia in May, Mou in September and Berries in December.

Marie & Alexandre were also invited to design a scenography for Apartment 50 at Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse in Marseille. Organized by Galerie signé, this exhibition marked the revival of this important space. The exhibition then travelled to Paris, where it was adapted for the gallery and presented during Paris Design Week in September 2024.

Their most recent exhibition with signé, Suspendu, was presented in September 2025. Conceived around notions of balance and tension, it extends Marie & Alexandre’s exploration of the relationships between material, form, and space.

Their work is represented through projects with the Ministry of Culture, the Cité du Design in Saint-Étienne, and the National Centre for Visual Arts (CNAP), and most recently through an acquisition by the Centre Pompidou for its permanent collection. At the same time, their practice extends into the field of design production.

Their work is edited by companies such as Petite Friture and Driade, for whom they unveiled a coffee table during the Salone del Mobile in Milan. In October 2025, they were named among the Designers of Tomorrow, an initiative led by Apple and Design Miami.Paris. This special exhibition awarded four future actors of design.