Dararith Pach, the artist giving basketball courts a makeover

They were up in just a few days: three new 3x3 basketball courts were added to the Ladoumègue sports center (19th arrondissement) last September. They're among 15 courts that have been created or renovated by the City of Paris and the French Basketball Federation ahead of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. And for each of these courts, artists and designers were invited to come and embellish them.

The blue and red lines at the Ladoumègue sports center are the work of Dararith Pach. The 33-year-old designer put his imagination to the test on these new sports facilities. He takes us through his thinking.

Since 2013, I've been taking part in the "All Parisian games" events, which host basketball matches between Parisians from the right bank and Parisians from the left bank. At first, they were simple neighborhood games. Then they managed to bring in NBA stars like Kobe Bryant, Lebron James and Jayson Tatum! It was thanks to them that I heard about the City of Paris and the French Basketball Federation's plan to renovate 3x3 courts before the 2024 Games.

I was inspired by Piet Mondrian's color block paintings, though I added the colors of Paris (blue and red). Instead of superimposing colors, I tried to interweave them. At Ladoumègue, there are three fields: two so-called Olympic fields and a warm-up field. I allowed myself to be more imaginative on the latter, with less rectilinear contours: I'd tried to break from convention. These values are common to all sports: creativeness and rigor.

I had very few technical and artistic constraints for this project. I used floor paint, which has to be weather-resistant. Anything made outside wears out so we plan to touch up the paint before the Olympic and Paralympic Games!

I've done a lot of work for sports equipment manufacturers and also for the Eurosport channel for the Tokyo and Beijing Games. I'm convinced that there's a very strong link between fashion, design and sport. Sport also promotes positive values such as hard work, creativity, exchange and perseverance.

Not only am I creating an ephemeral work of art, I'm also creating basketball courts. I hope this will attract new players and make shier players feel more at ease!