
After earning a master's degree in painting from the École des Arts Décoratifs in Strasbourg, Pierre-Yves Morel decided to further develop his expertise. He joined the prestigious Van der Kelen School in Brussels, where he trained in the most rigorous and virtuosic forms of decorative painting. He quickly put this expertise into practice: restoring civil and religious monuments, creating sets for theater and film… He gained experience in a variety of fields, refined his technique, and expanded his vocabulary of materials.
In late 2018, his marble imitations began to circulate and caught the eye of designer Nel Verbeke. The ensuing collaboration for Schloss Hollenegg for Design, four alcoves painted in faux marble for the project Architecture of a Tea Ceremony, marked a turning point. A few months later, thanks to decorator Christophe Gollut, he joined a London-based company where he intensively developed his skills in imitation marble and wood. In London, he worked on a series of interior design projects with leading figures in the field, including Ben Pentreath, Rose Uniacke, Tomasz Starzewsky, Steven Rodel, and Guy Goodfellow. During the pandemic, he pushed his experimentation further by transposing his marble designs onto verre églomisé, reviving and updating an ancient technique.
In 2020, Emilieu Studio and the École Camondo commissioned him to create a collection of cabinets inspired by the marbles of southern France for their new campus in Toulon. Two pieces subsequently joined the collections of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. That same year, the Mobilier National selected him for the inaugural edition of Les Aliénés.
Building on this growing success, Pierre-Yves founded his own studio in Brussels in 2021. There, he developed a clear philosophy: to revisit ancient techniques to reveal their modernity and to create a dialogue between them and contemporary concerns. His work was quickly noticed by Alberto Cavalli, who included him in the Homo Faber guide.
In 2022, he collaborated with the designers BISKT on an experimental project for Wallonia Design, resulting in a ceramic I-beam painted to resemble marble, a piece exhibited in 2023 at the Boghossian Foundation. Simultaneously, he continued his research with designer Ben Storms on contemporary variations of gilding.
The artist Abdelkader Benchamma commissioned him to create painted marble for the new Vitry-sur-Seine metro station, and later for his Marcel Duchamp Prize project at the Centre Pompidou. In May 2024, Pierre-Yves received the "Imprint of the Year" award from Talents du Luxe.
Collaborations followed one after another: with interior designer Romain Baty, he developed innovative finishes for a Parisian apartment, including sponge tempera, crackle lacquer, cold metallization, eggshell marquetry, and silver nitrate mirror. Cartier then commissioned him to create five monumental marquetry panels imitating precious stones for a collection presented in Stockholm. This was followed by a residency at the Villa Albertine in New York, while two new pieces were unveiled at the Révélation exhibition at the Grand Palais.
In October 2025, his work Arlecchino 2 was selected by Homo Faber for the Interwoven exhibition in Seville. That same month, he presented a new series combining "wild" gilding, verre églomisé flowers, and a sound system imitating marble in Paul Emilieu Marchesseau's pavilion for the "Les Nouveaux Ensembliers" exhibition at the Mobilier National.
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