An attentive reader of the Les Villages series, now renamed DESIGN &, I have taken real pleasure in reading, collecting and consulting these publications, first as an industrialist and since1994 as administrator of Industries Françaises de l'Ameublement. From then on, I realised the importance of a long-term marketing and reflection tool playing a part in manufacturers' creativity. I supported it wholeheartedly at a time when it was unusual to contribute to a profession's image in this way. When I was elected president of Industries Françaises de l'Ameublement in 1997, I naturally worked to develop and consolidate a publication which I already supported and I am grateful to the CODIFA (Comité de Développement des Industries Françaises de l'Ameublement) for having constantly supported me in this.

I must first of all pay tribute to Philippe A. Mayer, president of the UNIFA (Union Nationale des Industries Françaises de l'Ameublement) and to Jean-Claude Maugirard, then managing director of Via, who got the collection underway in 1993.

For my part, I made sure that French industrialists expressed themselves in the collection more and more, contributing technical and practical propositions, their points of view from the coalface and also accounts by men and women who are contributing to the progress of a profession as a whole and involved in developing a company culture.

At the helm of Via, Gérard Laizé has skilfully pursued the missions of general interest that are the task of an institution supported by a special tax. He has helped disseminate the contents of the publications both to adherents and to the general public. The DESIGN & collection has not only been a marketing tool for the profession but also a crucible for projects which Via has been able to develop, for example, the Objets d'en France exhibition, which travelled worldwide, and the research carried out on comfort.

Lastly, Christine Colin, the publication's managing editor, has, over the last ten years, successfully combined her high quality standards and her curiosity, her rigorous selection and her open mind. Her writings and her vision have contributed to the coherence of the collection as a whole and to the wide variety of themes explored, many of which remain just as topical today: typologies of comfort, displays, archetypes and ranges. She has also contributed to the emergence of young French designers who rank today among the leading figures of international design.

It was and still is an ambitious project, and equal to a no less ambitious subject since the aim of design is to enrich human relations, provide pleasure and get us to talk to one another. The series has fully lived up to our expectations and the task now is to make it known to and recognised by an increasingly wide public.

For this reason, to celebrate this 10th anniversary, I am glad to bring together all the creators, designers, architects, graphic designers, writers, teachers, journalists, art critics, company directors, manufacturers and retailers who have contributed to the conception and production of this collection with their texts, projects, designs, ideas, advice and graphic design. Not forgetting, of course, the readers…