The Griffon staircase was originally an internal prototype project developed by Setec to explore digital fabrication technologies. More than a purely technical object, it became a design exercise intended to singularize the entrance of Setec’s new Griffon II office building in Vitrolles.

A slender stone handrail, CNC-machined and polished, unfolds to form the intersecting flights of stairs, interwoven with ceramic risers. These risers merge into a large ceramic mural, 3D-printed and finished by hand.

The project thus questions our relationship to workshop-based making and on-site construction, the respective contributions of hand and machine, the continuation of traditional craft know-how, and its digital and robotic hybridization. Through its geometry and materiality, the staircase tells the story of an encounter between tradition and innovation.