Aki, the daughter of Japanese jewelry creators, was born in Paris in 1974 but grew up in Tokyo. After spending a year in the United States, she returned to Paris at the age of 18 to study interior and product design at the Ecole Camondo where she met Arnaud, a native of northern France who was born in 1973. He became interested in art during childhood and studied contemporary art in Belgium before moving to Paris. Since they opened their A+A Cooren design studio in 1999, they have worked for brands as varied as Shiseido, Artemide, L'Oréal, Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres, Yamagiwa, Saint Louis, Boffi Bains, Cartier and Vertigo Bird on interior, product and furniture design projects as well as scenography. They also create special pieces for private customers and collaborate with architects on interior design projects. The pair won a Villa Medicis Hors les Murs residence in 2007 and spent several months in Denmark to research ‘natural and artificial light’.