Les petits spécimens 10

Les petits spécimens is an annual event organised by Le Signe for young visitors, aimed at schoolchildren, families and all those curious enough to learn about graphic design in a fun way. This 10th chapter of Les petits spécimens is devoted to the work of author and illustrator Betty Bone.

Six characters. Six giant books. Six ways to play with stories.

The Cat disappears into its shadow. The Double looks for its face. The Artist transforms the world. Baby discovers everything for the first time. The Yogi closes their eyes to see more clearly. And you? You are here.

B.A-BA is an exhibition-play experience that invites children to step inside six large open books. Each book is a world to explore, a character to encounter, an experience to live.

Wearing masks to become someone else. Assembling the world like a puzzle. Drawing on the walls. Opening windows between inside and outside. Following a maze of words. Making your own little book.

Six modules where touching, playing, creating, and dreaming are all part of the experience make up the youth programme Les petits spécimens 10!

Betty Bone

Betty Bone is a French artist, author, and teacher specialising in graphic arts, publishing, and storytelling. Trained at HEAR (Strasbourg) in image-making, drawing, and illustration, she has developed a hybrid practice at the crossroads of graphic experimentation, play, and the book as object. Since 2022, she has been teaching Printed Image at the École des Arts Décoratifs de Paris.

Children’s literature, performance, printed image, press, animated film… Through a multifaceted and collaborative body of work, Betty Bone cultivates a distinctive visual language in which humour, poetry, and graphic radicality resonate with one another.

Grégoire Romanet

After earning a degree in graphic design from the École des Arts Décoratifs de Strasbourg in 2001 and spending several years working with the atelier de création graphique, Grégoire Romanet now works as a graphic designer and scenographer with cultural institutions, associations, publishers, and artists. Alongside commissioned projects, he is also a creator of images, typefaces, and artistic installations, a furniture designer, publisher, and teacher.