After Lab × L'Atlas
Geometry, Light, and Visual Tension
A calligrapher, painter, and leading figure in French street art, L'Atlas-whose real name is Jules Dedet Granel-has created a collaboration for After Essentials centered on his obsessions: writing, geometry, and perspective. Conceived as an optical labyrinth, the design unfolds across the poncho in a play of clean lines, deep blacks, and vibrant whites that shift with light and movement.
L'Atlas, the city's calligrapher.
From Paris to Tokyo, from walls to canvas.
Born in Paris in 1978, Jules Dedet Granel began doing graffiti in the early 1990s and adopted the name L'Atlas in 1996. Very early on, he developed a fascination for letterforms, which he then studied under master calligraphers in Morocco, Egypt, Syria, China, and Japan. From this journey through the world’s scripts emerged a unique visual language, at the intersection of calligraphy, geometric minimalism, and optical art.
In 2001, agnès b. exhibited his work alongside major figures in street art, establishing his presence on the international scene. He went on to create monumental installations in public spaces: the compass rose in front of the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 2008, the transformation of Place du Capitole in Toulouse in 2012, and numerous murals in France and abroad.
His black-and-white work plays on the balance between light and shadow, full and empty. He has collaborated with Perrier, agnès b., Jimmy Choo, and major cultural institutions. He recently founded Galerie Liminal in Les Lilas, a space dedicated to urban artists exploring abstract, gestural, and optical art.
We invite you to explore the work of L'Atlas:
The poncho as visual architecture
Black, white, radical geometry
For this After Lab poncho, L'Atlas didn't simply add a signature: he created a surface. Taut lines, expanding perspectives, stark contrasts between black and white-the pattern functions like a foldable fresco, halfway between calligraphy and architecture.
A work that comes to life in motion
L'Atlas’s geometry comes fully to life when worn. On the shoulders, under the sun, in the light of the seaside, the shapes are redrawn with every step. A true piece of urban art, designed for the beach, for everyday life, for the street.
Check out the poncho
Poncho Artist Series - Kai & Sunny
