Thomas Dariel is a prominent designer from the interior design agency based in Shanghai, Dariel Studio. As the founder of Campus MaNa, he draws strength and inspiration from his family heritage as the great-grandson of a French furniture designer, grandson of a jazz musician, and son of an architect. With a background in French design, he came to China in 2006 to launch his own interior design studio at the age of 24.
He has earned recognition from the interior design industry and received several awards and accolades, including the French Design 100 in 2022, which rewarded his work and projects for Dariel Studio. Thomas derives his creativity from the various realms of design, fashion, gastronomy, visual arts, and luxury. His design philosophy is driven by a passion for breaking codes and stereotypes.
He has successfully extended his unique signature to product design, collaborating with renowned brands such as Cappellini, Lelièvre, Cire Trudon, and Leblon Delienne.
In 2016, while continuing his work as an interior architect, Thomas Dariel fulfilled a childhood dream by launching his own furniture, lighting, rugs, and accessories brand, Maison Dada.
In 2020, he was appointed co-president of the French Publishers within the Ameublement Français.
In 2021, his creations were acquired by the prestigious Mobilier National, marking his entry into the history of French furniture.
2023 is the year of the launch of Campus MaNa, a lifelong project for designer Thomas Dariel.
Erwan Bouroullec is a French designer born in Quimper in 1976. His studio is currently located in Paris, but he also has another space in the countryside in Burgundy, France. In 1998, he graduated from the École nationale supérieure d'arts de Paris-Cergy.
Since 1998, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec have been working together. However, they also develop projects independently. Together, they have designed numerous projects in various fields. The main publishers they have collaborated with include Vitra, Hay, Samsung, Flos, Kvadrat, Ligne Roset, Established and Sons, and more.
Many of their pieces are included in the collections of important institutions such as the MoMA in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou in Paris, and the Musée des arts décoratifs in Paris.
Their creations have been the subject of several monographic exhibitions, including at the Design Museum in London (2002), the Museum of Contemporary Art - MOCA in Los Angeles (2004), the Centre Pompidou-Metz (2011), the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (2011), the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2012), and the Musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris (2013). The Philadelphia Museum of Art presented a retrospective of their work in 2021.
Numerous monographs have been published, including "Works" by Phaidon Press London in 2012.
Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec have received numerous awards, such as the Grand Prix de la Création de la Ville de Paris in 1998, the London Design Medal in 2014, Best Designers, the Design Prize (official award of the city of Milan) in 2017, and the Compasso d'Oro in 2022.
Claudio COLUCCI is a renowned international designer who graduated from the School of Decorative Arts in Geneva and the École Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle in Paris.
He is a designer of international renown who has opened studios in Geneva, Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Beijing. Since 2012, he has frequently collaborated with his son Fabio. Claudio COLUCCI's expertise encompasses three areas: furniture design, industrial design, and interior architecture.
He has worked with prestigious brands such as Christofle, Ligne Roset, the Accord Group, Alain Passart, Caran d'Ache, Vacheron Constantin, Habitat, Kenwood, Renault, Agnès B, Mövenpick, and Hermès. He has also collaborated with famous architects such as Philippe Stark, Ron Arad, Nigel Coates, and Pascal Mourgue.
Claudio COLUCCI has been named Designer of the Year multiple times at the Maison et Objet trade fair in Paris and by ELLE Decoration magazine. He recently received the first prize for arts and crafts in Switzerland. He has been appointed as an ambassador for the Michelangelo Foundation, which honors creativity and artisanal savoir-faire and strengthens connections with the design world.
Many of his creations have been exhibited in museums such as the Centre Pompidou, the Fondation Cartier in Paris, and the MoMA in New York, as well as in notable galleries. Two monographs about him have been published by the Fondation Cartier and NORMA editions.
Eager to share his knowledge, Claudio COLUCCI places great importance on education and is actively involved in leading schools such as HEAD and IPAC Design. In 2018, his eponymous agency changed its name to Colucci & Colucci Design and Architecture to welcome Fabio Colucci as a partner associate.
Visionary creator Jean-Charles de Castelbajac has anticipated what now constitutes the foundations of new creation: art and fashion, subversion, and collaborations.
His multidisciplinary work in art, fashion, and design revolves around a short chromatic range of blue, yellow, and red, with one of its most notable representations being the dressing of Pope John Paul II, bishops, and priests for the World Youth Day in 1997.
His clothing and art are imbued with his passion for history, the world of childhood, and Pop art. He has collaborated with numerous artists, including Keith Haring, Lady Gaga, and Robert Mapplethorpe.
His art is expressed through installations, performances, chalk street art, drawings, and paintings.
In 2015, he created a 3,700 square meter fresco for Orly Airport in Paris. In September 2018, he created a monumental work for the Biennale des Antiquaires at the Grand Palais in Paris.
Since 2018, he has been creating collections for United Colors of Benetton.
His artistic work is the subject of an exhibition titled "Le Peuple de Demain" at the Galerie des Enfants in the Centre Pompidou, which has been running from September 25, 2021, to July 18, 2022. On this occasion, the book "Dessins tout-terrain" featuring 500 of his drawings spanning 50 years was published by Flammarion.
In 2022, he is also present at the Mobilier National with the scenography of the exhibition "No Taste for Bad Taste," which traces 40 years of French design, and with a carte blanche titled "L'atour d'assises," centered around French styles.
Joost van Bleiswijk was born in Delft and graduated in Design from the Eindhoven Academy in 2011. Joost works mainly on his own collections, notably on the «No Glue No Screw» series, which has become a major piece in his work.
Joost’s collections are exhibited and sold worldwide in galleries and museums, including the Moss Gallery in New York, the Vivid Gallery in Rotterdam, the Holon Design Museum in Israel, and the Zuiderzee Museum in the Netherlands.
In addition to his personal work, Joost collaborates with major publishers such as Ahrend, Bernhardt, Bruut Furniture, City of Eindhoven, Design Connection, Lebesque and Moooi for whom he designs the Construction lighting collection.
After graduating from the Eindhoven Design Academy in 2000 and 2001, Kiki van Eijk and Joost van Bleiswij have been living and working together since then. Each working independently, the two designers develop their careers side by side but around a mutual and pronounced interest in crafts and historical objects.
In barely sixteen years, the creations of Kiki van Eijk and Joost van Bleiswijk have already won over the world’s leading brands and institutions. From the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam to the Moss Gallery in New York.
Kiki van Eijk was born in 1978 in the Netherlands. In 2000 she graduated with an honorary mention from the Design Academy Eindhoven. Her graduation project, the Kiki Carpet, inspired by an embroidery, attracted a lot of attention in the design world.
In 2001, she opened her studio in Eindhoven, which she continued to share with designer Joost van Bleiswijk. However, their work is almost always done separately.
Kiki van Eijk’s work is often very poetic and personal, and inspired by nostalgia and craftsmanship.
Her designs are mainly unique or in limited editions, and her works range from carpets, lighting, furniture, ceramics, glassware to textiles.
Her client list includes Studio Edelkoort Paris, Design Academy Eindhoven, Haans, Moooi, Bernhardt Design, Audax Textile Museum and Hermès.
Studio GGSV was founded in 2011 by Gaëlle Gabillet and Stéphane Villard. Their collaboration encompasses a diverse range of approaches, from curating to research design, from objects to interior architecture. In parallel, Stéphane Villard leads the INFORME project studio at the École Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle, ENSCI / Les Ateliers, Paris.
They were awarded the VIA Carte Blanche in 2011 for their project "Objet Trou Noir." This research project, recognized by VIA, explored the use of "black matter" derived from ultimate waste and reinterpreted household appliances in connection with tableware and decorative arts, focusing on the concept of decluttering.
"Objet Trou Noir" is now part of the permanent collections of the Centre Pompidou.
Gaëlle Gabillet and Stéphane Villard have their works published by Made in Design, Petite Friture, and Galerie Cat-Berro. Their pieces are regularly exhibited at various venues, including MUDAC, Pavillon de l'Arsenal, FRAC, Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt, Biennale Design Saint-Étienne, Center for Contemporary Art Castle of Rivara in Turin, and the Milan Furniture Fair. Recently, they were responsible for the interior architecture of La Commune, the national drama center in Aubervilliers. They won the Paris Shop & Design Award in 2014 and, in 2016, they secured the interior redesign of the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in collaboration with H20 architects.
They also serve as exhibition curators. They curated the exhibition "Form follows information" at the International Biennial of Saint-Étienne in 2015 and the exhibition "Zones de confort" at the Galerie Poirel in Nancy, along with Juliette Pollet, design curator at CNAP (National Center for Visual Arts). They were invited to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Centre Pompidou and create a workshop-exhibition at the Galerie des Enfants.
Gaëlle Gabillet and Stéphane Villard regularly give lectures about their work at various institutions and events, including the Centre Pompidou Paris, Université Paris 8, Pavillon des Arts et du Design, Cité du Design, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Cité de la Mode et du Design, Maison & Objet, OECD, Ecole Camondo, and Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales.
José Lévy was born in Paris.
In complete contrast to the codes of the time, which exalted the values of the 1980s, his clothing collections drew inspiration from Tati, Modiano, and Jacques Demy, ensuring him immediate visibility and international recognition.
He received several awards, including one from the City of Paris, and exhibited at the Cartier Foundation.
Over the course of 13 years, José Lévy established his presence in the world of men's fashion and distinguished himself as both an exceptional colorist and a precise tailor.
Simultaneously, he embarked on significant external collaborations, directing the style of Holland & Holland, Nina Ricci, Cacharel, and Emanuel Ungaro. Eager to reach a wider audience, he also collaborated with Monoprix, La Redoute, and André.
As a free and curious creator, eclectic and focused, he has always expressed his unique perspective by collaborating with numerous artists, photographers, visual artists, architects, and musicians throughout his career.
Since 2007, he has dedicated himself entirely to this interdisciplinary creative work, bridging the gap between visual arts and decorative arts.
In 2009, he exhibited at Emmanuel Perrotin (solo exhibition "Oasis: Luconoctambul!"), ToolsGalerie (group exhibition "Carpet Stories"), and the Manufacture de Sèvres (solo exhibition "Mousse de Sèvres"). He was invited by Maxalto during DesignersDays and designed MaPharmacie, a pharmacy in Paris-Bastille.
By expressing his universe, José Lévy enjoys unearthing memories, traces of the past, archetypes, and the roots of the Houses he encounters, playing with them and offering a free, distanced, and respectful perspective.
The Ateliers Poyaudins is a woodworking company operating in the furniture, interior design, professional training, and building carpentry sectors. It was founded in 2017 in Saint-Fargeau by Clément Chen. Shortly after, new partners (independent skilled workers) and collaborators (individuals undergoing training) joined the company. Thus, this artisanal enterprise operates on a cooperative basis. By the end of its third year, the company successfully achieved its primary professional goal: to exclusively work with wood. The focus for the coming years will be to establish a sustainable model of vertical integration of operations, from tree to finished product.
Tristan COLAFRANCESCO started his journey in photography, immersed in the punk scene from 2009 to 2011 in Brittany.
He then studied metal, first with a degree in metalwork with the Compagnons du Devoir, and in the company Metafer (a Living Heritage Company). Then came a second certificate, this time in artistic ironwork in Nièvre.
He gained experience while working at Heritage restoration companies, artistic metalworks, industrial metalwork, and contemporary metalwork companies.
In 2017 he created the Ateliers Cola, working since then with various designers on furniture, installations and custom-made objects.
His workshop is located in Avallon, at the gateway of Morvan.
Virginie Lagerbe, colourist-dyer, garden alchemist and creator of the Pérégreen workshop
After studying communications and political science, Virginie worked for many years in tourism development in her native Burgundy. Out of curiosity, she tried her hand at natural dyeing techniques in 2012 and discovered that plant-based dyes are everywhere to be found, hidden in roots, bark, wood, leaves or the flowers of the plants which surround us.
From that moment on, Virginie was driven by the desire to reveal the hidden colours of her environment. She was struck by the beauty of the results and by the fact that natural dyes produce different shades depending on the fibers used. This phenomena reveals unexpected, soothing and timeless shades of colour which, when associated ,provide us with a connection to the natural world. Each plant produces a color range that interior design can use to its advantage to harmoniously bring the garden into your home.
Training: introductory and advanced courses in natural dyeing with Magali Bontoux at "l'Herbier en couleurs" (Drome), a researcher dyer trained by Michel Garcia.
Heritage Prize awarded by the Institute of France (2019) at the Royal Abbey of Chaalis (61) for the work carried out in 2018 in Colette's childhood’s garden (Maison des Illustres) in Saint-Sauveur en Puisaye (89) and the innovative approach to gardens by Pérégreen.
Silver Ribbon Prize awarded by the jury of the Plant Festival at the Domaine de Chantilly (2019).
Creation in 2019 of a textile color chart revealing the colorful soul of Rosa Bonheur's castle’s park (Maison des Illustres).
Exhibitions and installations at the Victor Hugo Museum in Villequier in 2020 (Maison des Illustres) (76), at the Abbey of Boscherville in 2020 (76), at the Martainville Castle in 2021 (76) on the occasion of Flaubert's bicentenary, and at the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris in 2023 (75).
Curator of the exhibition (2022) dedicated to the botanist-dyer from Rouen, Dambourney (1722-1795), proposed by the Saint-Georges Abbey of Boscherville (76).
Julie Richoz (1990) is a French-Swiss designer. After graduating from ECAL (Ecole Cantonale d'Art de Lausanne), she worked with Pierre Charpin as a project assistant.
In 2012, she set up her design studio in Paris where she developed her own style, imbued with curiosity and sensitivity, through her objects. That same year, Julie Richoz won the Grand Prix of Villa Noailles Design Parade (Hyères, France).
The designer participates in several residencies, notably at the Cité de la Céramique in Sèvres, as well as at the CIRVA (International Centre for Glass and Plastic Arts) in Marseille. It is an opportunity for her to exploit their materials and know-how. The fruit of her work was then presented during a solo travelling exhibition at the Design Parade 8 in Hyères, at the IMM Cologne, and at the Design Week in Paris.
In addition to her collaboration with Gallery Kreo, she also works with companies such as Alessi and Artecnica.
In 2015, she received the Swiss Design Award, as part of a major national design competition in Switzerland, organized every year by the OFC (Federal Office of Culture) since 1918.
Studied architecture in Paris from 1973 to 1980.
Project manager architect at Claude Vasconi's firm from 1980 to 1987.
Then at Aymeric Zublena's firm, responsible for projects such as the Georges Pompidou European Hospital, the School of Mines in Nantes, the university biology and physics campus in Illkirch, and the DASES building in Paris. Head of agency at Bouchet Neyraud Architecture and later at Michel Beauvais' firm from 2001 to 2004.
Head of department and director of new construction at Paris Habitat, a social housing provider, from 2004 to 2020.
"Allowing oneself to be transformed by the forest"
Experimenting or creating in situ, in the forest, with researchers, institutions... as I undertake in my work, is a way to free oneself from the idea of nature that is protected, studied, sanctified, or viewed as a work of art: the landscape.
In other words, a nature that has been distanced since antiquity, objectified and separated from the living. By building the idea of cohabitation, like reconstructing a biocenosis, working with the forest. Neither subjected nor dominated, but being alongside, with. But above all, seeking to be transformed in return, in one's own questions as a researcher, artist, in experimental protocols, in "modeling" techniques. Changing perspectives, acting in reaction. Ultimately, I hope to contribute to building a subject-to-subject relationship, which seems to be the only long-term response to the urgency.
Sara Favriau graduated in 2007 from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris (studio of Giuseppe Penone). In 2014, she was awarded the Discovery Prize by the Friends of the Palais de Tokyo and the Best Installation Prize at the emerging YIA Art Fair. In 2020, she began a long-term collaboration with INRAe and biologists from the Mediterranean Forest Unit. Sara Favriau questions both the artwork and its ecosystem, its circularity. She evokes forms, symbols, and processes from popular nature and transposes them. A cabin, a canoe, a bow, a tree, voguing... are elements that are part of her formal and conceptual vocabulary. It is a meeting of past, present, and future that she has been developing for years. This blending is at the heart of her intentions: to intertwine metamorphosis, fiction, and essay in a simple form. Through essential actions, like a tree-canoe crossing a sea to find a forest. A work that renews itself and thus questions its status as a sanctuary (exhibition, acquisition), toward a possible status as a living being (evolving, replayed, transformed, altered artwork). A virtuous blend approached with humor, where the poetic form exists even in the titles of her works.
In 2016, Sara Favriau had a solo exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo titled "La redite en somme, ne s'amuse pas de sa répétition singulière." In 2017, she exhibited in a solo show at the Château de Chaumont, Independent Brussels, and conducted a residency on "Arts and the World of Work" with the Ministry of Culture in partnership with CNEAI. In 2018, she participated as a guest of honor in the first Bangkok Beyond Bliss Biennale. In 2019, she participated in the French Los Angeles Exchange (FLAX) residency and took part in the first Rabat Biennale. In 2020, she was invited to Villa Noailles for the International Festival of Fashion, where she exhibited an installation of sculpted trees from a forest plot studied by INRAe near Marseille. In 2021, a tree-canoe crossed the Mediterranean Sea from the Salins des Pesquiers in Hyères, where the canoe was created, to the Carmignac Foundation on Porquerolles Island.
In 2021/2022, she conducted a residency with the Royal Commission RCU and French Agency Afalula, operated by Manifesto, in AlUla, Saudi Arabia. Her work is present in numerous public collections, including FMAC (City of Paris collection), FDAC Essonne, FRAC Normandie Caen, FRAC Centre, MAC VAL.
A designer based in Paris, Amandine co-founded with her partner Aïssa Logerot the AC/AL studio, where her practice is linked to design through the design of objects and furniture, for various fields ranging from industry to crafts and luxury (www.ac-al.com). Their work has been rewarded many times, and has been exhibited in museums such as the Centre Pompidou or the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris. Some of their pieces are also in the MAD permanent collections.
In 2009, Amandine also founded the association i.d.o, conceived as a participatory platform, rich in a network of various skills put at the service of solidarity projects, and is interested in the development of artisanal production methods and living conditions of isolated populations. His latest project, a community water hyacinth-based floating vegetable garden, was supported by several foundations and has just been completed on Tonlé Sap Lake, Cambodia (www.ido-project.org).
Amandine graduated from ENSCI – Les Ateliers (2009) and holds an ESSEC certification on the Foundations of Social Entrepreneurship and the Evaluation of Impact Measurement (2020). She considers the creative process as an integral part of the project, and pays particular attention to the uses and interactions that flow from it.
Jacques Ferrier is an architect and urban planner. A graduate of the Paris-Belleville School of Architecture and the Ecole Centrale de Paris, he founded his agency in Paris in 1993 and has been working in France and abroad ever since. His projects are part of the same philosophy: design an architecture and a city for a creative and sustainable society.
Jacques Ferrier is the author of numerous articles and books on architecture. His work has been the subject of monographs, notably “The architecture of Jacques Ferrier” published by Thames & Hudson, London. Jacques Ferrier is Professor. He was appointed Knight of the National Order of Merit and Knight of Arts and Letters.
Pauline Marchetti and Jacques Ferrier have collaborated since 2008 with the creation of the French pavilion for the Shanghai World Exhibition. Since then, they have developed a large number of public and private projects, combining research and architecture.
Their work has been the subject of several international exhibitions, including “Impressionismus” at the Architektur Galerie in Berlin; “Non Oppressive Design” at DOKK1 in Aarhus and “A vision for the sensual city” in Shanghai, Beijing, Manila, Singapore, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur.
The Centre de design de l'Université du Québec à Montréal devoted them a monographic exhibition, “Entre-Deux”, in the fall of 2019.
They give numerous conferences, including at the Harvard Design School at Columbia University and at the AIA Center for Architecture. Their work has been published in a wide range of prestigious publications, including Arca International, Details, National Geographic, and Time Magazine.
Ruedi Baur, designer, teacher, researcher, citizen of a “World to Change”.
Since the 1980s, Ruedi Baur has been thinking about his work as a designer in the context of a civic space to be transformed. Initially working as a graphic designer for many cultural institutions, Since the 1990s, it has been organising a transdisciplinary education based on critical research into the design culture, informed by the practical experiences developed in its workshops.
Claiming an interdisciplinary design very early on, he created the Intégral network in 1989 and managed the workshops until 2023: Intégral Ruedi Baur, Paris, Zurich and Berlin, then Intégral designers. In 2004 he created and directed with the sociologist Vera Baur at the ZHdK in Zurich the Design2context Institute, then in 2011 the Civic-City Institute for Critical Research in Design; in 2018, the young 10-billion-human university company.
His Bibliography makes it possible to follow his path, notably with books such as «Architecture-graphisme» (1998), «Des-Orientation 1 et 2» (2008-09) «Signs for Peace, an impossible visual Encyclopedia» (2012), «Face au brand territorial» (2013), «Un Monde à changer» (2017) “And suddenly the world was immobilized” (2020).
Born and raised in Paris, Mathieu has started to study Biochemistry and bacteriology in high school. Then he went to Ecole Boulle and he graduted as a cabinet maker after 4 years.
During his learning process, he went to several workshop, such as Bernard Mauffret, Marc Desnoyer or Alexandre Fougea.
Mathieu worked for few companies in Paris and London (A.K.A Design), and it is in 2016 that he started running his own company, in Burgundy, known as M.A.C.
He makes furnitures, wardrobs, kitchens, woodenfloor, etc.
He fit is work in their places with a sharp attention to details.
As a child of a "jack of all trades", Mathieu knows the main knowledge in many fields of construction in order to renew houses.
Since the beginning of her career Sophie’s leitmotiv has been Creation. After 16 years spent in Shanghai in the Art & Design field, she now lives in Paris and continues to be a strategic partner for the creators and the Iconic Artistic houses.
From the Creative Industry key players such as Hermès Group, Chinese architect Wang Shu (Dean of the prestigious China Architecture Academy in Hangzhou), Puiforcat or Saint-Louis Crystal, Sophie has orchestrated with brio their communication in specific project developments.
They can be designers, architects or living heritage companies, Sophie has been supporting them for over 20 years ailing at building and promote their image and reputation to a well-thought audience – defining their brand positioning, setting-up the proper tools and transmitting self-confidence to her clients to always aim higher.
Sophie is also the head of Communications for the Design editor, Maison Dada.
She graduated from Paris X University in Communication & Foreign Languages with a Master degree in written & spoken Chinese at the Shanghai Normal University.
Delphine Moreau is the General Manager and Partner of Dariel Studio.
Graduated from the Institute of Political Studies with a major in international affairs, she completed her education by a Master Degree in project management for the creative industry.
After five years working for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she set up a private organization dedicated to the improvement of the creative mobility in Europe and providing legal, financial and administrative services to hosting structures and professionals of all creative fields. During her ten years working experience in Paris and while running operations, she always kept a foot in the creation itself by managing artists-in-residence programs and curating visual arts exhibitions.
She moved to China end of 2008 where she started her collaboration with Thomas Dariel. Since then and animated by her passion for design, she runs the interior design studio where her expertise is in service of creativity. Delphine is one of the two Founders of Maison Dada.
In 2021, she is also leading the ambitious project of La Ma.Na (Les Manufactures Nationales), a Design and Crafts International Campus located in French Burgundy where Design and Crafts workshops will be interacting with Design & Crafts Training at the highest level.
A graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, Julie is a professor at the Cité du Design in Saint-Etienne. Dedicated to education, in Shanghai, Julie created three bilingual schools. Also a graduate of Helen Hamlyn Research, she has established dual degree courses, notably between ESADSE and Tongji University Shanghai.
To date invested in the creation of FABécole, a program that integrates regional businesses into the heart of the school, she is strongly committed to the preservation of the regional industrial and artisanal heritage. A major player in the creation of an active link between the FABlab, the materials library and the school, Julie wishes to put emerging talents back at the center of local production.
Julie is co-founder of the design agency WOKrea which appears as a design force in leading museums and art galleries around the world including the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in New York, the Museum of Design in London, at the Design Museum in Holon in Israel and several international design and art exhibitions.
Julie has led various workshops among others at Lasalle College of the Arts University in Singapore, Pratt Institute NY, Head Geneva, RCA London.
Gaëlle is a seasoned strategy and business development executive with a passion for sustainability, disruptive innovation and strategic relationship building.
Her experience combines 20+ years in the technology, financial services and sustainability sector, working for leading firms such as Cisco, UBS, Credit Suisse and Anthemis as well as start-ups and VC’s, where she held leading and global roles in strategy, innovation, business development and competitive intelligence. As a senior advisor and non-executive director, she currently
advises early stage and high growth technology companies in cybersecurity, sustainability and fintech, supporting their scaling and growth, embedding
ESG principles, raising funds from the investment community, planning international expansion and hiring top talent.
She is also an engaged supporter of charity efforts, including women leadership at the 30% Club Future Board scheme, sustainability as a trustee of 1001 Fontaines and entrepreneurship as co-lead of Fintech FrenchTech UK.
She is a Belgian and UK national, holds a MA in International Trade and Relations and Economics from University of Northern Colorado and studies International Relations at Colorado State University. She lives in London with her family.
Renaud Sermondade is currently the Europe and Middle East Vice-President and General Manager for the pharmaceuticals arm of the Aptar group where he is notably responsible for the largest industrial site of the Aptar located in Le Vaudreuil (27).
Renaud brings us a long and extensive business and manufacturing experience acquired in the industry where he successfully held senior management
positions within large international groups such as Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), Merck and more recently Sanofi.
Renaud graduated of the Ecole Centrale de Lyon and began his career as a Strategy Consultant at A.T. Kearney & Roland Berger Strategy.
Accustomed to working in diverse and multicultural environments, Renaud has spent part of his professional life in China and the United States.
Wolfgang, a graduate of the University of Arts and Design in Karlsruhe, Germany, is a creative and innovative individual with a strong background in research and creation. He spent a year studying at the Karlsruhe Research Center, a pioneering institution in the field of robotics, before embarking on his journey in innovation, research, and design.
As the Creative Director of the hotel group èhotels-lyon, which comprises seven establishments in France, Wolfgang has contributed to the creation of 'Les Lanternes - Creative Retreat,' a 4-hectare natural domain dedicated to seminars and events.
With international experience spanning London and Shanghai, Wolfgang co-founded WOkrea in 2004 and has been developing visual identities for international clients such as Bank of Communications China and Jim Thompson Thailand.
Known for his deeply engaged artworks, large-scale public installations, mass-produced products, and limited editions, Wolfgang has received several international awards, including the Annual Furniture Design Award, Perspective 40under40, Winner of Visual Identity at the Museum of Islamic Art, and the Type Event Award by the Arts Council England. His work has been featured in numerous publications by Phaidon, Thames & Hudson, and Carlton Books, among others.
In 1992, the Radi Designers collective (which stands for Recherche Autoproduction Design Industriel) was born, composed of five members, all graduates of Les Ateliers School: Laurent Massaloux, Olivier Sidet, Robert Stadler, Florence Doléac, and Claudio Colucci. The collective plays with the gestures and typologies of everyday life.
During the 1990s, Radi Designers worked on projects as diverse as object design and space planning. They subverted the obviousness of everyday life through object-product-furniture-gadget hybrids. As emblematic figures of the new French design movement, the Radi Designers manipulate codes, uses, techniques, and forms with relentless inventiveness.
The members of the Radi Designers group met at the National School of Industrial Creation. Their individual and collective work led them to respond to various commissions and also to freely propose objects and scenarios.
In 1998, they held their first solo exhibition at the Emmanuel Perrotin Gallery.
In 1999, they were commissioned to create an installation by the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art. The installation was subsequently presented in Japan and Seoul.
The Radi Designers were named "Creators of the Year 2000" by the Salon du Meuble in Paris, while they were also working on an exhibition scenography for the Museum of Fashion and Textiles. They also ventured into urban design by creating a public fountain featuring two silhouettes of women carrying water. In 2001, the New York gallery Sandra Gering organized a solo exhibition of the group for the first time in the United States.
"Bringing something to people rather than doing design."
Matali Crasset, a globally recognized French designer, combines art, anthropology, and social aspects in her approach to design. She prioritizes creating connections between individuals and their environment. With a career spanning 30 years, she has worked on various projects ranging from architecture to scenography, as well as the design of objects and public spaces. Her works are exhibited in prestigious institutions and are part of significant design collections. She deeply analyzes each project, challenging assumptions to reveal their creative potential. She values local resources, community participation, and workshops in collaboration with educational institutions. Matali Crasset is personally involved in every stage of design and creation, with a studio that promotes an individualized approach. She collaborates with the industry to create accessible design and promotes French know-how. She designs inclusive urban public spaces, welcoming living environments, and child-centered spaces focused on development. In addition to her design work, she is dedicated to teaching and knowledge transfer. Her approach integrates an artistic dimension, emphasizing creativity and aesthetic experience.
Teaching and knowledge transfer
Matali Crasset sees her role as a designer as being rooted in knowledge transfer. She has given over two hundred conferences worldwide, has been teaching at HEAD Geneva since 2010, and participates in numerous symposiums and juries.
Some examples include being a professor at ENS Paris-Saclay from 2017 to 2019 for the project "L'Atelier des communs" and a workshop at NID in Ahmedabad, India.
Where to see, read, and understand Matali's work
Rizzoli Editions published a monograph in 2012 tracing her career (in French by Norma Editions). Recently, Les presses du Réel published "TITLE," a book of drawings created during the spring 2020 lockdown.
France Culture has produced several programs, including a series of five recordings for "A voix nue" by Camille Juza in 2018 and a masterclass hosted by Arnaud Laporte in 2017.
A 52-minute documentary film was made in 2019 by Rémy Batteault, produced by Cocottes minute and co-produced by the Centre Pompidou for France 5.
Some clients
Alessi - Atelier Luma, Arles - Asia Culture Center, Gwangju, South Korea - Cent Quatre, Paris - Centre Pompidou, Paris - Consortium Museum, Dijon - CHU Angers - Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie, Paris - Crous - ENS Paris Saclay - Fondation Martell, Cognac - Frac Champagne Ardennes, Reims - Hermès - Ikea - Maison Berger - Manufacture de Sèvres - Médiakiosk / Jean-Claude Decaux - Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris - National Museum of Singapore - Power station of art, Shanghai - Philharmonie de Paris - Ville de Dijon - Ville d'Istres - Ville de Rennes - Ville de Genève - Ville de Paris.
Olivier Saguez, businessman-designer involved
For Olivier Saguez, “Design is obviously in the everyday usefulness. Useful to the people and to the planet.” After Interior Design and Art History degree from the Ecole Boulle, he started his career with the Franco-American designer Raymond Loewy. After co-founding the Proximité agency, a BBDO group subsidiary he managed for a decade, Olivier founds Saguez & Partners: an independent global design agency. “Design must change by becoming more frugal, economical, clever, 100% useful. And necessarily sustainable…” Pioneer in one of the first mixed-use eco-district near Paris, in the heart of the Docks de Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine, Saguez & Partners built its new Manufacture Design 100% sustainable design. There, the one hundred and thirty talents of the agency imagine and create the design of tomorrow. As a real incubator-lab to Work Differently and the uses of tomorrow, the Manufacture Design is part of a dual approach of sustainable development and social diversity. Open on the city, the building is crossed by an urban passage, which houses a restaurant at the foot of the building with three young entrepreneur and Design Act! master class co-founded with an international design school, to Learn Differently. Convinced that compagnies must be citizen and solidary, Olivier Saguez puts design at the service of his commitment, in educational, cultural and entrepreneurial actions, which help to strengthen social ties and support innovative projects. In 2017, he created the Saguez Corporate Foundation "Design for All", with the aim of democratizing design and putting it at the service of all, starting as close as possible in its two territories, Saint-Ouen in Seine-Saint-Denis and Arles in Camargue.
His culture: sensible, sensitive, useful
His conviction: design is not there just to look pretty! ®
His credo: an idea is worth it only if it is well executed.
She studied at the École nationale supérieure d'Arts de Paris-Cergy, then at the École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.
From 1983 to 1985, artistic director at Topologies – Publicis Conseil, she designed identities and institutional campaigns for ministries (women's rights, national education, professional training). In 1985, she founded the Polymago agency.
Juliette claims her practice as an attitude, which is manifested by the singularity of listening, of response and by the always questioned experience of the professions and techniques of graphic design. Her creations strive to compose words, images and signs to enrich the imaginary scope of the messages. Her approach tends to prove that the reality of an image is not only estimated by aesthetic parameters, but that it also comes from a social demand, a plastic thought and an ethics.
In 1991, after having created the identity of the national domain of Versailles, in 1999 she created that of the Musée du Quai Branly, then, the identity and signage of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon, the graphics of the “Dalí” exhibitions. Center Georges Pompidou and “Cosa Mentale” at the Center Beaubourg Metz.
Since 2016, she has headed the LMpolymago agency, continuing her faithful collaborations with the national estate of Versailles, the Quai Branly museum, and urban development establishments. In 2020, she designed the signage and identity of the Auvergne Metropolitan Library and in 2022, the communication identity of “Nice 2028, European capital of culture”. The same year, the Louvre called her to design information around the Carousel restoration project in the Tuileries. In 2023, the national domain of Versailles entrusted him with the cladding of the palisade of the site of the gate of honor.
With her team, she offers a complete reflection on identities, editions, communication and signage. She designs graphic and semantic universes, adapted to each new subject. Her approach is based on his experience and expertise in graphic design professions, around consulting, artistic direction, creation and coordination of multidisciplinary teams.
Living in Saint Amand en Puisaye, in Burgundy, since 2008, she followed the training of Creative Ceramist and the Research of High Temperature Enamels at Ema-Cnifop. Established as a ceramist for around ten years, her workshop is located at the Fabrique, in the spaces of the former Mallet pottery factory.
Ceramics has been with her since her adolescence, but it was first and foremost as a bookseller that she began her professional life. A visit to independent bookstores confirms his attraction to the illustration and graphics of children’s literature. Various experiences of support and supervision of young people, children and adolescents will follow. With strong associative experiences, Sofi is gradually developing a training proposal based on experimentation and the poetic expression of the earth medium. Not being a turner, her work begins with a search for random or organic forms. Currently, it is a stoneware and porcelain tableware as if taken from a quick sketch where, in the attention to detail, the handle is sometimes crude and precious or small and useless. A fly invites itself to the edge of the plate, Sofi reveals a poetic and amused approach to detail, loves what disturbs and shakes us up.
Erica Dorn is a London-based graphic designer who has worked in film and television for over 8 years, with experience designing brands and visual identities.
Erica Dorn has worked with Wes Anderson since his animated film "Isle of Dogs" ("The French Dispatch", "Asteroid City", etc.) and meticulously designs all the graphic and typographic elements of his films: signs, patterns, custom fonts , sets, vending machines, and more, drawing on spectacular historical research.
Estelle has been interested in biomimicry since 2015 as a lever for transforming our relationships with living things and a method of regenerative building design. After a year of bioinspired housing world tour from Kyoto University to MIT in 2016, she joined the Ceebios team where she co-developed the Habitat division, the Bioinspired Habitat professional training and the design methods of the bio-inspired building for project management for 6 years.
Estelle followed the dual architect-engineer course at Ecole Centrale and ENSA in Lyon (2014). She obtained the degree of Doctor in ecology and environment at the Musém d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris after an interdisciplinary CIFRE thesis in biomimicry on facades inspired by the skins, hairs and feathers of living things in 2021. Since 2023, she has shared her professional activity between research in biomimicry and the production of a cartoon report on biodiversity hotspots in South-East Asia.
The Commune Nature collective, founded in 2022 by alumni of the Nature Inspired Design master's degree at Ensci les Ateliers, trained in biomimicry and the management of sustainable projects.
The vocation of our collective is to use design tools and a detailed knowledge of social and environmental issues, to transform our ways of producing and creating society, taking into account planetary limits and human needs.
Inventive industrial designer, Alexandre Echasseriau combines artisanal know-how and design to carry out projects of infinite diversity. Trained in ornamental turning at the Ecole Boulle, he learned many techniques related to metals for three years. He then moved towards ENSCI Les Ateliers, in industrial design, from which he will graduate with the congratulations of the jury in June 2013. Revealed on the occasion of the Audi Talent Awards 2014, the designer surprises with his new and original collaborations reflecting his nature curious entrepreneur. A few years later, Alexandre Echasseriau was responsible for the industrial design of the general aviation division of the Daher company, a rich collaboration with internal teams which enabled his Tiny House project to see the light of day. Like his rolling or flying FabLab workshop, curious and observant, Alexandre draws on his childish soul and engages in a playful creative approach; evidenced by its projects for young audiences for the Center Pompidou, or its collaboration with the Breton company Seederal for the design of an electric tractor. Alexandre creates a link between past knowledge and future innovations and gives shape to science. He invites the next generations to expand their artistic knowledge, putting transmission at the heart of his projects.
Erik Samakh artiste plasticien chasseur-cueilleur
Erik Samakh est diplômé de l'ENSA Cergy. Professeur des Écoles Nationales Supérieures d'Art depuis 1989, il a enseigné dans de nombreuses écoles d'art. Il vit et travaille dans les Hautes-Pyrénées sur un territoire de 20 hectares devenu aujourd'hui un véritable laboratoire et conservatoire animal et végétal. Ce site dans lequel se côtoient abeilles, bambous, grenouilles et lézard verts est une source d'inspiration quotidienne, un espace de captation d'images, de prises de son et d'expérimentations.
Par la combinaison de technologies discrètes et de phénomènes naturels d’origine végétale ou animale, Erik Samakh invite le spectateur à être attentif à la nature, à se mettre à son écoute et à dialoguer avec elle.
En véritable pionnier des nouveaux médias dans les années 80 il est invité dans les biennales d’art, festivals et expose depuis dans de nombreux Centres d'Art, Musées internationaux et monuments historiques.
Sa démarche artistique s’inscrit surtout aujourd'hui dans des espaces naturels grâce aux énergies renouvelables.
UNE ÉQUIPE PLURIDISCIPLINAIRE
Biologie, chimie, architecture, ingénierie, urbanisme, design, management… la pluridisciplinarité, essentielle à l’approche biomimétique, est notre force.
Notre équipe opérationnelle est soutenue par notre conseil d’administration, nos sociétaires et notre conseil scientifique.
Jean-Baptiste Fastrez is a designer graduated from ENSCI with honors from the jury in 2010. He worked for 3 years with Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec before establishing his own studio in 2011. He now collaborates with various brands and publishers such as Moustache, Manufacture de Sèvres, Kvadrat, CIRVA, and Tai Ping.
He has won several awards including the Grand Prix du Jury at Design Parade 6 at Villa Noailles (Hyères, France) in 2011, under the direction of Stéphane Diez, with his projects "Variations upon an electric kettle" and "To-mahawks hair dryer." He received the Wallpaper Design Award for his vase "Scarabée" in 2015.
His pieces are presented at various thematic exhibitions at Grand-Hornu Images (Belgium), Mudac (Lausanne), and VIA (Paris). Recently, one of his creations was exhibited at the Trapholt Museum (Denmark) during the "Fetishism" exhibition organized by Lidewij Edelkoort.
Several solo exhibitions have been dedicated to his work, such as in 2013 when his objects were showcased at Galeries Lafayette in Paris, and with "Jean-Baptiste Fastrez x Moustache" at Villa Noailles in 2014.
Jean-Baptiste Fastrez's work has been acquired for permanent collections at the Centre Pompidou and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, Villa Noailles in Hyères, and the CNAP (Comité National des Arts Plastiques). Since 2012, several pieces have been edited by Galerie kreo, including the "Mask" mirror collection, "Etna" coffee tables, and the "Egypt" vase collection. "Vivarium" marked Jean-Baptiste Fastrez's first solo exhibition at the gallery, presenting a set of eight furniture and objects subtly inspired by wild animals, displayed within the gallery as in a vivarium.
https://jeanbaptistefastrez.com/
Charles Kalt is an artist, he has a long practice of art printing. He trained at the School of Decorative Arts in Strasbourg in the engraving workshop from 1973 to 1978. He was the founder and boss of the “Lézard Graphique” PME screen printing workshop from 1979 to 1984. From 1985 In 1990 he collaborated with the art publisher Antoine Graff and printed works by artists such as: Armand, César, Télémaque, etc.
In 2023 he created “c.k. éditions”, a multidisciplinary printing workshop and published Vladimir Skoda, Jean-Jacques Dumont, Nicolas Schneider, Adrien Jutard, etc.
From 1991 to 2023 art professor and head of the printed arts workshop at the Haute École des Arts du Rhin in Strasbourg.
Lucie is a facilitator, trainer and teacher specializing in the transmission of know-how related to textiles.
She works in public and private organizations on French territory, but also in Europe.
Graduated with a Master's degree in creative practice from the Artez school in the Netherlands in 2020 where she specialized in textile repair techniques.
During her last year of her master's degree, she began her activity under the name We Made Together. The mission of We Made Together is to raise awareness and activate citizens and professionals to respond to the challenges of ecological transition in the textile industry and social transition. This allows him to channel his activist energy and his desire for change.
In 4 years, We Made Together has raised awareness among more than 800 citizens and professionals with around thirty workshops and courses per year.
After a master's degree in ceramic conservation-restoration and training in Japan with a master lacquerer, Béatrice Jacotot created her company Cérakin in Paris dedicated to restoration and kintsugi. This traditional Japanese technique is part of highlighting the object and its history, offering it the possibility of prolonging its existence while giving it a new aesthetic. Béatrice Jacotot has been practicing kintsugi since 2016 for tea and ceramic lovers, and also works in collaboration with ceramists to create original and unique pieces. She began teaching the Japanese technique of kintsugi in 2020.
Marie Drouet, a basket weaver, fuses the traditional art of plant weaving with a contemporary approach. From her workshop in the Val d'Oise, she collaborates with professionals in the luxury and decoration sectors and designers looking for heart-throb creations.
Marie uses traditional and rare techniques to design unique pieces. She is committed to an ecological approach by highlighting wicker, grown in France.
Marie's sensitive work is integrated into custom-made works, decors and lighting using other materials such as leather, rope, fabric and metal.
She does not hesitate to hybridize know-how through collaborations and her personal research. This work with materials gives birth to organic creations.
Aldo Bakker explores the senses, challenging perceptions between humans and objects. Despite their calm appearance, his works impose their own rules of interaction, seductive yet independent. A self-taught artist, Aldo Bakker drew inspiration from figures like Luigi Nono, Giorgio Morandi, J.M. Coetzee, and Carlo Scarpa, creating objects that tell their own stories. His unique works or limited series have been commissioned by prestigious brands and acquired by renowned museums. Aldo Bakker has received numerous awards, and his work has been widely exhibited and documented.
Julie Briest, experte en couleur pour Ressource, vous invite à plonger dans le monde de la couleur et de découvrir l’impact qu’elle a non seulement sur nos intérieurs, mais aussi sur notre comportement, le tout en apprenant à créer des ambiances à l’aide de nuanciers, échantillons, lumière naturelle ou artificielle et autre cercle chromatique.
Jessy Travers, référant technique et formateur applicateur chez Ressource, fera le lien entre théorie et pratique en animant un atelier où les différentes techniques d’application de peinture, chaux et enduits seront abordées.
Innovation and Digitalization Consultant, he has a dual background in Design and Communication. Passionate about innovation and creativity, he is dedicated to transforming innovative ideas into tangible realities. Now, Yves Mérillon is turning to artistic craftsmanship where he aspires to merge his vision and know-how with matter, time and history. He thus embodies the modern craftsman, at the crossroads between new technologies and age-old know-how, thus reconciling the generations of yesterday, today and tomorrow.
He began his apprenticeship in 2014 and traveled to France for several years where he trained in various companies, in traditional carpentry and heritage restoration. In 2017, he went to live in Japan for a year. He worked for the Roy Mokkou company, which built a tea pavilion and participated in the construction of a temple with the Momoyama company. It was a new world that opened up to him, with new types of wood, new tools, new gestures and another way of thinking. He will remain deeply marked by this experience which will lastingly inspire his practice of the profession. Back in France, he worked for historical monuments in Troyes and in 2020 joined the École Polytechnique de Bari to carry out a one-year research project on assemblies. By studying ancient construction techniques and parametric design, he created a construction game inspired by dovetails: Gumi. In 2021, he joined the European Institute of Carpentry, Fitting and Cabinetmaking where he developed new training courses for the Compagnons du Devoir. At the same time, he continued to train in artisanal design at the Grands Ateliers as well as in the Art du Trait and became a trainer for the Marseille School of Architecture. He wrote a thesis on learning through play and joined the Fondation de Coubertin in 2022 to deepen his artistic culture before creating a tailor-made training and furniture design company: Menuiserie Kinoko. He continues to travel and share his passion for woodworking, respecting the material and those who transform it.
With over ten years of media relations and five years of entrepreneurial experience, Shuya Amber Chen has forged a unique resume, rich in working experience with luxury brands and top domestic and international media. Posses a bright and bubbly personality that allows her to communicate with client, VIP and media relations smoothly. With her artistic and aesthetic eye and storytelling talent, she has achieved a lot in the fields of fashion, design, art and lifestyle. Living in Europe for several years have opened up new horizons for her career, with projects in Belgium, Switzerland, France, Spain, Italy, USA, Singapore……etc. She is committed to be one of the bridges between East and West, building and maintaining the brand image of creators and gaining international reputation.
Marjane holds a professional certificate in youth education and popular sports, specializing in equestrian sports education. She has organized and led animation and teaching activities for a wide range of audiences. Prior to joining the education sector, Marjane collaborated in the management of high-level sport horses for national and international riders. She worked with Devoucoux, a company specialized in custom saddle design, as a technical advisor.
After spending ten years in the equestrian world, Marjane transitioned to the field of education. She now provides pedagogical and educational supervision to young learners within a local public institution for agricultural education and professional training. This institution serves as a platform for reflection and experimentation with techniques and methods aimed at ecological resilience, reducing the environmental impacts of agricultural activities, and promoting new sectors such as the bioeconomy.
Marjane is currently responsible for supervising and ensuring the smooth implementation of activities at Campus MaNa.
Parisian Karen Swami discovered pottery at the age of five and took ceramics classes throughout her childhood. After studying at business school, she worked in real estate, then opened an antiques shop at the Paul Bert market before launching into film production.
In 2010 she did a ceramics internship led by Thierry Fouquet who encouraged her to take her CAP. Which she did as an independent candidate the same year. She then installed a kiln and a wheel in her production office and made ceramics alongside her work in the film industry. The great Parisian decorator Christian Liaigre discovered her work and began a collaboration with her that continues to this day with Maison Liaigre.
In 2014 Karen Swami set up her studio and opened a gallery in Paris, and devoted herself exclusively to her passion for ceramics. Her creations quickly seduced the big names in design and fashion: the prestigious Maison Alberto Pinto, Bruno Moinard, the luxury scenographer, former partner of Andrée Putman, Christian Dior Maison, Guerlain, Cartier, l’Oréal… Karen Swami also had a series of exhibitions in Paris (Lionelle Courbet gallery, Minsky gallery, NAG gallery, Atrata Paris…), Brussels, London, Lisbon and in the United States: in 2017 and 2023 at March Fine Art, in San Francisco, in 2019 at Design Miami-Art Basel in Miami, in 2022 and 2024 at the Ateliers Coubert in New York.
Karen Swami likes to play with materials, flames, oxides and pushes know-how to the limit by confronting earthenware and stoneware.
It is by simplifying volumes that she magnifies color and texture games. If the shape of Etruscan vases inspires her, a simple pot is transformed into a unique art object under her fingers. Her approach exudes shadow play, mystery, clean lines and modernity.
From shagreen trompe-l'oeil to the art of kintsugi, including smoky earths, this enthusiast since the age of 5 touches, turns, smooths, incises and encrusts the material in her Parisian workshop.
An artisan, Karen Swami is one with the earth that she has tamed over time and through its manufacturing stages.
After obtaining a Brevet des Métiers d’Art Arts et Techniques de la Tapisserie de basse guerre and a Diplôme National Supérieur d’Expression Plastique, Delphine Mangeret created her colorist-cartoon maker workshop for Aubusson tapestry in 2007.
As part of projects initiated by the Cité Internationale de la Tapisserie such as “Aubusson weaves Tolkien”, “The world of Hayao Miyazaki in Aubusson Tapestry” and “Hommage à George Sand”, she collaborates with artists, spinners, dyers and weavers to interpret artistic projects in tapestry.
Her work preparing a weaving includes developing the aesthetic line, choosing the different types of threads, building the color range, tracing the cardboard and establishing a harmonious, creative and dynamic collaboration between the different trades involved in making these tapestries.
Since 2014, as part of the training center set up by the Cité de la Tapisserie and managed by the Greta du Limousin, she has been passing on her skills in color and cardboard production to new generations of weavers, contributing to the preservation and development of this traditional know-how.
After three years of training in tapestry at the École Nationale d'Art Décoratif d'Aubusson and two years as a weaver in the Atelier Camille Legoueix in Aubusson, France-Odile created her workshop in 1984, where she weaves tests from personal creations, projects in collaboration with artists, as well as creations for clothing and fashion accessories. These multiple experiences allowed her to find her writing. This work resulted in the creation of several tapestries in which she highlights the material and color.
In 2010, she joined forces with Martine Stamm. Together, they combined their experiences and know-how by creating the SARL Atelier A². They demonstrated this know-how by creating numerous tapestries by contemporary artists, for the Cité Internationale de la Tapisserie as part of calls for creation, as well as for the CNAP.
These artistic challenges allow her to explore all the possibilities of her profession and to be in perpetual research, whether on textile writing or materials. In December 2012, the workshop obtained the Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant label. Aware of what she has received from her master weavers, she feels the need to pass it on. In 2004, she became a training center and, in 2012, a trainer at the Cité de la Tapisserie for professional training in warp tapestry, managed by GRETA.
Nourished by a childhood where the meal was a form of art, Marion Graux developed a unique sensitivity for ceramics. In her family, the kitchen was the heart of the home, a place of sharing, pleasure and education. Cooking not only allowed to create joyful moments around large tables, but also to instill in children the respect of the seasons and the beauty of nature. This passion for cooking is accompanied by a keen awareness of the pleasure that the art of eating well can offer.
It is with this philosophy that Marion makes her plates. She is part of the soul of the table, inviting everyone to reflect on the harmony between colors, materials and flavors. Composing a table, for her, is like painting a picture: a playground where personal expression takes shape in subtle blends. Her ceramic pieces enrich this experience, paying tribute to those who sit around the table.
Although she primarily responds to orders from chefs and sometimes architects, her studio is open to all. Visitors can choose a few unique pieces from her creations, or even leave with a bouquet of dried flowers, in homage to the history of the place.
After a career in food styling, Marion threw herself fully into ceramics in 2010. She works for restaurant orders and collaborates with boutiques. Her creations, made in small series, are characterized by their sensitivity, their vibrant colors and their ability to reinvent everyday tableware.
Ema Pradère is a ceramic artist whose work reflects her personality: gentle, powerful and exalted. After briefly working as a doctor, she devoted herself to her passions for painting and dance. Her travels around the world, particularly to India, Japan and Egypt, nourished her art and led her to explore pottery. Inspired by nature and mountains, she integrates these elements into her stoneware or porcelain creations, which combine power and fragility. Her ceramics, influenced by the art of Kintsugi, seek a balance between instability and harmony, like her creative dance.
Specializing in tableware, she brings a contemporary touch to ancestral know-how from around the world. Inspired by traditional techniques from different continents, she enriched her expertise after a four-year trip through Asia, Africa and Europe.
Passionate about matter and movement (Ema having a solid background in dance), she rediscovers the meaning of gesture through working with clay. With great freedom, she can repeat the same gesture over and over again, like a Zen gardener. She ultimately likes to leave room for chance, an element that she appreciates and with which she likes to play.
She collaborates with renowned chefs such as Hélène Darroze and Alexandre Mazzia.
Her creations are exhibited in various fairs, such as the PAD Paris and Geneva, the Hôtel de l'Industrie, or Thema Fair, in collaboration with the digital gallery "l'œil de KO". She also collaborates with brands such as Jars.
A consultant colorist, Amandine Gallienne works on architecture, furniture and textile projects. She has notably created the color ranges for home objects and Métiers d'Art watches at Hermès, as well as for the ready-to-wear collections of Molli and the furniture of Drucker. A lecturer at the American Schools of Art in Fontainebleau, she is also the author of Un monde de couleurs (Thames & Hudson, 2005) and Les 100 mots de la couleur in the collection Que sais-je? (PUF, 2017).
Trained at the Beaux-Arts d’Angers, then in workshops specializing in advertising decor (Hermès, Well) and scenography (Opéra de Paris), Coralie Guet wanted to deepen the techniques of painted decor to enhance heritage at the Van der Kelen-Logelain Decorative Painting Institute in Brussels. Founder of the painted decor workshop Atelier Bleu de Prusse, she has worked for individuals (notably in private mansions in the 7th arrondissement) as well as in events (Honda, Jacquart champagne, etc.). Passionate about teaching, she passes on her know-how by occasionally intervening in schools of applied arts.
Founded by Jessica Lambinet, JLA Vitrail is a workshop specializing in the creation of contemporary stained glass windows and the restoration of old pieces. Its entirely custom-made creations adapt to the architectural context and the unique universe of each client.
Whether it is wall decorations, artistic privacy screens or lighting fixtures, Jessica excels in the art of playing with material effects, exploring the depth and variations of light from day to night. Her goal is to compose a true poetry between light and glass, offering a daily invitation to travel and wonder. She deploys the creativity of stained glass in the fields of hospitality, commerce and for individuals, while restoring old stained glass windows in accordance with the rules of art and the original work.
With experience acquired in several workshops specializing in conservation and restoration, both in France and abroad, Jessica masters the essential know-how to ensure the preservation of your stained glass windows for future generations.
Passionate about glass and the ambivalence of materials, Jessica Lambinet expresses her creativity through the creation of stained glass windows. By reworking clear glass (bubbled, striated, artisanal or industrial) using colors and material effects, she offers herself great artistic freedom, thus giving birth to magnificent visual and sensory compositions. In her work, glass becomes a true creative partner. The movement and depth that she generates by freeing herself from structural constraints, allowing the glass to express itself outside the lead lines, establish a beautiful harmony between these two materials in her stained glass windows.
Julien Chaucheprat and Jérôme Pesant
After having devoted a large part of their respective careers in the outdoor industry, particularly in the textile sector for one, and for sixteen years in a large industrial carpentry company for Jérôme, both passionate about mountains and wood, they decided to embark on a unique project with the desire to change mentalities. Their mission: to make known the Shou Sugi Ban technique, its environmental benefits, as well as its textured aesthetics.
Their creations are based on three essential principles:
Wood: a material 12 times more insulating than concrete, it is economical, renewable, healthy and has a low ecological impact.
Shou Sugi Ban: this burnt wood technique increases the natural durability of wood by making it resistant to bad weather, insects, UV rays and humidity, without requiring chemicals. Used outdoors, burnt wood, simply treated with a natural oil, can last a century, according to Japanese tradition.
Wabi-Sabi: an aesthetic concept that values the beauty of imperfection and the natural aging of materials, thus respecting their environment without human intervention.
Shou Sugi Ban thus becomes much more than a method of preserving wood; it is an art of living, a philosophy and a true aesthetic expression.
Today, their factory is nestled in a forest sanctuary in Burgundy. Jérôme and Julien select their logs with care and attach great importance to their transformation. They consider themselves artisans of black art burning.
The principle of illusion is at the heart of the art of decor, and Mathieu Lemarié excels in this field. He practices painting in very varied forms, relating to both decorative arts and crafts: monumental frescoes, delicate illuminations, enameled ceramic tiles, painted canvases for the Opera, striking trompe-l'oeil, or even faithful reproductions for the cinema. His unique know-how leads him to collaborate with prestigious clients such as renowned museums, famous directors, and leading institutions.
He contributes to the development of the sets of many operas in emblematic places such as the Paris Opera, Versailles or Rouen. His talents are also sought after by figures of the artistic scene such as Ariane Mnouchkine, Zingaro or the Cirque du Soleil, for whom he designs spectacular sets.
Cinema was his first playground after graduating, where he participated in the creation of frescoes for the film "Vatel". Subsequently, he collaborated with directors such as Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Roman Polanski, Alain Chabat, Éric Rohmer and Woody Allen, for whom he notably painted a fake Picasso.
Recognized for his expertise in the arts and crafts, Mathieu Lemarié also works in museum scenography and window design. Since 2019, the GGSV design agency has called on him for various large-scale projects, notably at the Villa Medici, where his art and know-how continue to fascinate.
Harry Nuriev, a Russian-born designer and interior architect, is a key figure in contemporary design. Founder of Crosby Studios, his work fuses art, functionality and a resolutely minimalist aesthetic, often tinged with a bold monochrome palette. Based in New York, Harry Nuriev has built a global reputation for his ability to reinvent spaces with a narrative approach, exploring the intersection of interior design and conceptual art. He is known for his futuristic aesthetic and innovative use of materials. He plays with industrial textures like metal and plastic while incorporating familiar elements reinterpreted in a modern context. Nuriev’s works transcend convention: his furniture, often conceived as sculptures, challenges traditional notions of comfort and functionality. For example, his transparent PVC “Couch”, exhibited at Design Miami, has become an icon, symbolizing the dialogue between consumption, sustainability and art. His inspirations are varied, ranging from pop culture to Soviet architecture to digital trends. He draws on the influences of his childhood in Moscow to create pieces where brutalism meets refined minimalism. Through his collaborations with prestigious brands such as Balenciaga and exhibitions in international galleries, he pushes the boundaries of traditional design.
Another essential aspect of Harry Nuriev’s identity is his commitment to sustainable and responsible design. He approaches sustainability not as a constraint, but as a creative tool, transforming recycled materials into functional art objects.
With an eccentric personality and a visionary spirit, Harry Nuriev continues to inspire a new generation of creators. His universe is a perfect balance between conceptual elegance and bold experimentation, constantly redefining the way we perceive and inhabit spaces.
Following a traditional curriculum, her evening classes at the Beaux-Arts in Rennes revived her interest in metal and art nouveau. She did an internship with a compagnon du devoir in Rennes.
Subsequently trained in Applied Arts and metalwork, she moved away from her previous work focused on recovery, reuse and recycling. By exploring the symbolism of the birdcage, she offers modular and original pieces. Each project is unique and often the result of specific orders, integrating the history of second-hand furniture into its reinterpretation. Anouchka added a personal touch while preserving the traces of time.
In 2012, her creative passion accelerated with the order of a suspended seat. This inspired her to create a human-sized birdcage, which was a great success when it was presented in Paris in 2013, appearing on the cover of decoration magazines.
This artisanal piece, made in Brittany, is coveted by luxury boutiques, hotels and events, and was used in the filming of Hunger Games. Recent models have been sent to Saudi Arabia, Australia, Poland and other countries.
After a collaboration with Maryse Dubois, her creations spread internationally, notably in the windows of Guerlain and at the Michelin-starred restaurant Racines in Rennes. Her works are highly prized by brands such as Moët & Chandon, Le Bon Marché and L’Oréal, and are regularly selected by trend agencies such as Nelly Rodi and Elisabeth Leriche.
Labeled "Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant" by the State, David Toppani's workshop embodies the excellence of French know-how in the design and manufacture of prototypes.
Manuel since his childhood, after exploring classical education, he chose to move towards a technical sector, obtaining a BEP Wood. In 1979, he joined the Boulle school in cabinetmaking where he obtained his CAP and his BT in cabinetmaking, then the Boulle school diploma and a BTS in Interior Architecture and furniture creation.
During his final year internship at the NEMO company, a Parisian design studio, he was hired immediately after obtaining his diploma. For two years, he produced color renderings, technical plans and furniture models.
However, he missed the workshop and manual work, so he decided to leave his salaried position to found the Ûfacto workshop, which he has managed since 1988.
For 35 years, Ufacto has been implementing unique know-how in the field of prototyping, the manufacture of objects and designer furniture, as well as in the creation of design set and event elements, while offering services for visual artists. The workshop works with a wide range of materials, such as plastics, resins, wood, and also carries out surface treatments, including spray painting.
His training and experience in prototyping have led him to be constantly looking for technical solutions to meet the needs and demands of creators.
Julien Benayoun and William Boujon, designers and co-founders of Bold-Design
Founded in 2009, this studio has been tracing a unique path for 15 years, exploring the creation of objects, furniture and spaces. Behind this adventure, William Boujon and Julien Benayoun, friends and partners since their studies, combine complementary visions to imagine a design combining style and technique, audacity and simplicity, research and transmission.
The studio cultivates a continuous dialogue between idea, material and human, emerging from the meeting of these universes. Since 2016, it has distinguished itself by its innovative projects in 3D printing, such as the creation of vases in plant fibers and micro architecture projects based on leather waste, rewarded by the "New Worlds" program of the Ministry of Culture.
In 2019, the Centre National des Arts Plastiques (CNAP) acquired several of their works, marking an institutional recognition reinforced by the "Symbiose" exhibition in 2021. Since 2018, the studio has continued its experiments in the Drôme with the 8Fablab, exploring 3D printing of sustainable materials such as earth.
Passionate about craftsmanship and traditional know-how, Bold Design is participating in 2023 in the "VISION ET TRADITION" residency program, co-organized by the Institut Français and the Institut d'Amérique Latine during Design Week Mexico. In collaboration with Mexican master basket maker Cirilo Martinez, they highlight the contemporary uses of natural fibers such as wicker and rattan.
Through workshops for students and professionals, William and Julien emphasize the importance of collaboration and sharing know-how, convinced that dialogue and collective experience enrich the practice of design. Bold-Design is a versatile design agency that is constantly monitoring. It places social and environmental issues at the heart of its priorities and regularly collaborates with eco-design agencies to anticipate choices in terms of manufacturing processes and materials.
Without a preferred technique or material, the duo selects the methods best suited to each context. Working hand in hand with the client and the various members of the project team, it also relies on a network of professionals with complementary expertise.
For 40 years, Martine Rey's work, in perpetual movement, has explored space-time through urushi lacquer and the melancholy of objects dear to Japanese culture: Mono no aware.
The artist thus confronts a material whose application technique joins her own personal and artistic journey, that of patience and delicacy.
"I create objects that allow an emotional or even intimate bond between oneself and the object, an incessant quest for the lost object, and/or the one that has always been missing."
Martine Rey, a lacquer artist specializing in urushi vegetable lacquer, discovered this ancestral technique 40 years ago during her studies at the Kyoto University of Fine Arts in Japan, where she was trained by the master Shinkaï. This initiatory journey deeply influenced her artistic journey, revealing an intimate connection with Japanese culture. Since then, she has continued to reinvent this living material in her works.
After training in "European lacquer" at the École Supérieure des Arts Appliqués in Paris, she settled in Voiron, where she still lives and works today. In 1980, she founded the association LAC (Laqueurs Associés pour la Création), and taught vegetable lacquer at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Appliqués et Métiers d'Art in Paris between 2002 and 2009. Her work is exhibited in France and abroad, and she has been selected several times for the Ishikawa Triennale. She has also been invited to the World Urushi Culture Council Symposium in Tokyo and to the International Fair of Lacquer and Painting Design in Ishikawa.
Far from limiting herself to the ornamentation of objects, Martine Rey uses urushi to transform ordinary objects into relics or talismans, revealing their history and hidden essence. Her approach is marked by an intimate connection with Japan and its aesthetics, notably the "poignant melancholy of things" (Mono no aware). Her creation is rooted in a quest for silent beauty, where the slowness and meticulousness of the lacquer technique mark the passage of time, making each gesture bearer of memory and sensitivity. For 40 years, she has explored this space-time, giving urushi lacquer all its depth and preciousness.
Martine Rey thus creates a shared space of discoveries and intimacies, a place where memories and gestures intertwine. This space unfolds through the multiple layers of lacquer, similar to palimpsests (manuscripts made of parchments reused after erasure of previous writings), deeply buried. Lacquer plays the role of witness to the passage of time, connecting the present to memory.
Martine Rey is represented by Galerie Sinople. A former resident of Villa Kujoyama, she is particularly sensitive to the transmission of her craft. She has a passion for Urushi lacquer.
She trains in kintsugi, the art of repairing wounds in the literal and figurative sense, using age-old techniques.
With 18 years of experience in a subcontracting company for the luxury sector, Muriel Rochetti-Davant has developed in-depth expertise in leather goods by working for prestigious brands such as Hermès, Vuitton, Moynat, Chanel and Cartier. Her curiosity and constant desire to learn also led her to specialize in the design of high-end office items, as well as in the techniques of the saddler-harness maker profession.
Thanks to these experiences, she naturally wanted to pass on her excellent know-how. In 2016, she created the Atelier "CuirDavant" in Semur-en-Auxois (Côte-d'Or), a space dedicated to the training of future saddlers-art leatherworkers and saddlers-harness makers. Today, the workshop has a 100% success rate in the CAP exams.
Although the training takes place in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere, Muriel Rochetti-Davant stands out for her high standards and expectations of her learners, in order to support them towards success. Her goal is to provide a solid foundation for her students' professional future, whether it is obtaining the CAP, employability or autonomy in carrying out personal projects.
Laetitia Perrin, DPLG architect, has devoted more than twenty years of her career to the architecture department of Louis Vuitton. She has designed and built around sixty stores around the world, working on a variety of elements such as volumes, lighting, materials, wall coverings, furniture, and FF&E (Furniture, Fixtures & Equipment). From initial design to final implementation, these projects have given her the opportunity to collaborate with designers, artisans and various cultures, thus enriching her creative and technical approach.
Subsequently, she took charge of developing concepts and furniture, as well as researching and developing materials and sourcing artisans.
Since 2006, Laetitia Perrin has trained in ceramics with Patricia Vieljeux in her Parisian workshop, while deepening her mastery through training in creating high-temperature enamels and obtaining a CAP in ceramic turning. This journey, fueled by research, experimentation and constant audacity, has allowed for an in-depth exploration of shapes, materials and textures.
Created in 2024 in Paris and Pantin, Laetitia Perrin Studio is both a creative agency and a craft manufacturing workshop. Specializing in collectible furniture, lighting and ceramic objects, the studio transforms raw materials into exceptional materials to give life to free and functional forms, often imbued with an architectural dimension.
The studio's creations, all unique, include a variety of pieces: murals, furniture, lighting, bas-reliefs, tableware and exceptional objects. These works, both diverse and rich in materiality, weave a unique link between craftsmanship, art and architecture.
The studio also offers a catalog of ceramic textures, designed to meet the needs of its clients for tailor-made projects.
This design duo, founders of the 5.5 collective and pioneers of upcycling, are now recognized experts in the field. Their partnership, which has lasted more than 20 years, has continued to strengthen, as have their deeply held convictions. These creators, resolutely against the grain, now embrace a design focused on degrowth, aiming to slow down the world's frenetic pace. This commitment is more crucial than ever, given the acceleration of our lifestyles and the contradictions of a frenetic society that urgently needs to reinvent itself.
Claire remembers always enjoying manipulating, recovering, and playing with what she found, gleaning objects here and there to transform them. It was during a junior high school work experience placement in the offices of Castrol, a company specializing in motor oils, that she discovered the term "design." Determined, she knew she would become a designer and dedicate her career to rethinking everyday life.
Admitted to ENSAAMA (French National School of Design), Claire completed a five-year program, graduating with a diploma on the influence of form on taste. She then chose to continue her studies at Arts et Métiers, where she immersed herself in the creative ecosystem and explored the relationships between the various stakeholders in the design profession. Alongside her DEA (Master of Advanced Studies), Claire founded Studio 5.5 with her partners and became the leading figure in the rapidly growing collective. She led numerous ambitious projects, dedicating herself fully to the project, and successfully completed it. In 2012, she naturally took over as director of Studio 5.5.
Whether as designer-director or director-designer, Claire embodies this role of "troop leader" with unwavering commitment and rigor. She was also invited by the CNAP (National Council for the Arts and Crafts) to join the State's acquisition commission for a three-year term. Today, Claire rediscovers her first passions: experimenting with nature, cultivating it, savoring it, and nurturing life. She now seeks to bring her creations to life while minimizing their impact on the environment.
Jean-Sébastien spent a peaceful childhood in sunny Nîmes before moving to Paris to attend the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Appliqués. Four years later, he graduated with honors from the jury, gaining recognition for his often counter-current ideas. His final thesis on the planned obsolescence of objects marked the beginning of the founding project of 5.5. It was indeed on his initiative that the 5.5 designers collective was born, invited to pursue their "censored" reflections on the medicine of objects.
Always searching for meaning for his future career as a designer, the Nîmes native, true to his Taurus temperament, decided to continue his studies at Arts et Métiers. He earned a Diploma of Advanced Studies at the Product Design and Innovation Laboratory. This theoretical year fostered his interest in multidisciplinary projects and confirmed his commitment to prioritizing substance over form in his design practice.
Today, alongside his work as a designer at Studio 5.5, Jean-Sébastien pursues a more personal artistic approach, using objects as the raw material for his creations.
Designer of furniture, objects and spaces, Martin Blanchard practices his profession with an approach rooted in the field. Based at the Jardin des Métiers d’Art et du Design (JAD) since September 2022, he first trained in art history before turning to scenography and interior architecture.
His approach is based on close collaboration with artisans, influencing each project from its conception. He integrates manufacturing processes into the heart of the design, highlighting know-how in the final object.
Sensitive to environmental issues and the future of objects in a world of overproduction, he favors materials that are little transformed, easily recyclable or already recycled. His refined and functional aesthetic aims to extend the lifespan of his creations. This ecological reflection also leads him to explore new solutions, in particular through the development of plant composites, thus opening up new perspectives in sustainable design.
Florian Traullé is a French designer recognized for his innovative approach and expertise in industrial design. With over 20 years of experience, he seamlessly blends creativity and technology to craft products that combine aesthetics and functionality.
A graduate of ENSCI in 1996, following a master’s in industrial design at ENSAAMA in 1992, Florian quickly made a name for himself with top brands. In 1994, while at Jean-Paul Gaultier, he contributed to the brand’s visual identity, working on the logotype and store designs in Paris, New York, and Tokyo.
His career later led him to Michelin, where he explored tire design from 1998 to 2001. Specializing in winter performance, he collaborated with major car manufacturers such as Renault, Mazda, and Citroën, bringing innovation to cutting-edge projects.
Since 2001, Florian has been with Salomon, expanding his expertise by working on women’s apparel, ski outfits, and technical equipment such as backpacks and back protection. His sense of innovation has led him to manage strategic R&D projects, strengthening the brand’s image in mountain sports.
Alongside his corporate career, Florian shares his knowledge as an educator, training the next generation of designers with passion and rigor. In 2022, he curated the exhibition “Dépliages” at the Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Étienne, highlighting his commitment to using design as a force for positive impact on everyday life.
Combining creativity, an understanding of industrial processes, and empathy for users, Florian Traullé represents a modern vision of design, where aesthetics and functionality go hand in hand. His exemplary career makes him an influential figure in French industrial design.
Mathias Kiss is a French contemporary artist known for his work in sculpture, painting and installation. He is particularly recognized for his artistic creations that play with the notions of space, perspective and trompe-l'oeil. His often monumental works often integrate architectural and decorative elements, exploring the boundaries between art and architecture. Kiss is also known for his interventions in historical sites, transforming spaces with a bold and innovative approach.
Mathias Kiss has a very unique approach to the sky in his artistic work. He often explores the representation of the sky through installations, paintings and sculptures that defy traditional expectations and perceptions. Here are some aspects of his approach to the sky:
By combining artistic creativity and conceptual thinking, Mathias Kiss offers a poetic and innovative vision of the sky that invites contemplation and reflection.
Steeped in science, Ulysse explores the themes of balance, gravitation, and movement.
For almost 20 years, he has been developing a unique expertise in metal, combining ancestral know-how with contemporary and industrial techniques.
The result is simple forms born from geometric interplay, mobiles whose point of balance is constantly lost and regained, and stable structures in tension where all forces cancel each other out… For a sculpture of interaction, accessible and vibrant.
Today, he collaborates with several science and technology museums (Musée des Arts et Métiers, Palais de la Découverte, IHP, Exploradôme, etc.), creates apparatus and scenography for the circus world, exhibits monumental sculptures, and performs in public spaces.
Sensitive to the nuances of their environment, Ulysse's sculptures seek synthesis, are interested in abstraction, and speak of simplicity.
For over twenty years, Mona Oren has been developing a unique sculptural oeuvre, rooted in matter, gesture, and time. While her work regularly involves drawing, photography, video, and installation, it is sculpture—and more specifically wax sculpture—that constitutes its center of gravity.
Contrary to tradition, which considers wax a transitory medium, preparatory to bronze casting, Mona Oren uses it as a final material, an artistic language in its own right, of extreme delicacy. She chooses this material for its organic, sensual, and vulnerable dimension, and for its ability to embody impermanence: wax melts, evolves, and acquires a patina over time, but always retains the trace of gesture and emotion.
Made from a subtle blend of animal, vegetable, and mineral waxes, worked using processes she has long perfected, the wax becomes skin, flower, breath, and memory in her hands. Each work is constructed in thin layers, using silicone, plaster, or resin molds, until it reaches tiny thicknesses, sometimes only one or two millimeters. The result: pure, almost translucent forms that capture the light and the gaze in a constant interplay between strength and fragility.
Winner of the Liliane Bettencourt Prize for the Intelligence of the Hand® in 2018, Mona Oren has established herself as a contemporary wax maker, at the intersection of art, craftsmanship, and research. For several years, she has been conducting an in-depth exploration of white wax, with a demand for precision and an almost alchemical attention to the material's reactions. This in-depth work recently took her to Japan, during residencies at Villa Kujoyama in 2022 and 2025, where she discovered Hazé vegetable wax made from tallow trees. Seduced by its finesse and the affinities between Japanese craftsmanship and her own practice, she is now pursuing a new phase of research there, also incorporating other materials such as rice wax, Washi paper, and Sumi ink.
Over the years, her practice has evolved from an inspiration initially fueled by nature and the plant world to a more abstract, introspective expression, blending symbolism, modesty, sensuality, and discreet humor. Each piece becomes a fragment of history, a sensitive trace of the ephemeral, which the artist situates in installations, photographs, or videos, playing on transpositions of scale and temporality.
Her work has been presented in numerous exhibitions, in France and abroad. She also collaborates with luxury brands such as Guerlain, Dior, and Chaumet, and develops a practice of transmission, which she considers essential: she trains apprentices in her workshop, teaches at the Ateliers Terre & Feu in Paris, and regularly leads workshops in prestigious schools and institutions.
With work that is both demanding and poetic, Mona Oren sculpts wax as one writes a poem: in thin layers, in silences and in lights. She explores the tension between what fades and what remains, making this unstable material a true medium of memory, of the sensitive, and of the living.
A set designer, stage designer, and staging specialist for the world's leading luxury brands, Soline d’Aboville is renowned for her ability to tell stories through objects and spaces.
Passionate about the world of decor, she imagines temporary installations as visual and emotional experiences, where poetry meets precision, and imagination is part of a clear narrative rooted in current events.
A graduate of the École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (ENSAD), she began her career with Cartier before designing Louis Vuitton's iconic window displays around the world for five years. She then continued her career with Dior Couture, always bringing the same high standards of creativity and refinement.
In 2008, she founded Manymany, a creative studio dedicated to event scenography, set design, and window display creation. A true laboratory of ideas, Manymany allows her to explore a variety of formats and experiment with new visual languages.
With 20 years of experience working for the biggest fashion and luxury brands, Soline now places the ecological challenges of her profession at the heart of her projects. Choosing low-polluting materials, recycling decor, promoting short supply chains, and drawing on rare expertise are just some of the avenues she explores to create fair, beautiful, and responsible projects.
Since 2010, paper has become a preferred material for the studio. Lightweight, recyclable, accessible, and poetic, it addresses environmental issues while offering an infinite range of creative possibilities. Thanks to the integration of a large-format cutting machine, the studio continues to explore the expressiveness and scenographic potential of this simple yet noble material on a daily basis.
Soline d'Aboville sees her profession as both humble and spectacular:
"From my work as a scenographer, experience has taught me that designing a temporary installation requires a great deal of humility, flexibility, and creativity. But like fireworks, this installation must shine, and the exercise consists of constantly renewing oneself. I dream up the projects. This initial dream is a founding element. It's what triggers the creative vision; it's the starting point for the race against time that often begins before the final note is played."
Each project carries its own identity, but all share a common signature: a love of detail, the power of light, the play of mirrors, the constant return to nature, the work of color and sound, and this quest for a form of sophisticated simplicity. Everything comes together to create a sense of wonder and offer an experience.expérience.
Simon Charbonnier est un dinandier d’art, orfèvre et ferronnier français, maître dans l’art de travailler le cuivre, l’étain, l’argent et le laiton. Depuis plus de trente ans, il façonne les métaux avec une rigueur et une sensibilité rares, tissant un lien constant entre tradition artisanale et expression contemporaine.
Formé auprès de maîtres dinandiers, il perpétue un savoir-faire précieux qu’il enrichit de recherches personnelles, toujours guidé par un désir d’innovation et de beauté. Son travail se distingue par une exigence formelle où chaque courbe, chaque surface polie ou martelée révèle une harmonie subtile entre la précision technique et la force expressive.
Ses créations, qu’il s’agisse d’arts de la table, de ferronnerie d’art ou de pièces uniques commandées par des musées ou des lieux de culte, incarnent un art du métal à la fois sobre, puissant et poétique. On y retrouve une esthétique épurée, une attention au détail et une capacité unique à faire vibrer la matière. Chez lui, le métal devient surface vivante, captant la lumière, évoquant le souffle, révélant la beauté dans le plus infime relief.
Son œuvre explore avec finesse les tensions entre structure et légèreté, permanence et mouvement, mémoire et invention. Elle témoigne d’une virtuosité technique mise au service d’une vision artistique singulière.
Récompensé à plusieurs reprises pour l’excellence de son travail, Simon Charbonnier a notamment reçu le Grand Prix Régional des Métiers d’Art d’Aquitaine – en 1997 pour la tradition, puis en 2003 pour la création contemporaine – ainsi que le Prix Régional du Club Dunhill-Prestige en 1998. Ces distinctions reconnaissent autant la qualité de son geste que la profondeur de sa démarche artistique.
Simon Charbonnier is a French coppersmith, goldsmith, and ironworker, a master in the art of working copper, pewter, silver, and brass. For over thirty years, he has crafted metals with rare rigor and sensitivity, forging a constant link between artisanal tradition and contemporary expression.
Trained by master coppersmiths, he perpetuates a precious know-how that he enriches with personal research, always guided by a desire for innovation and beauty. His work is distinguished by a formal rigor where each curve, each polished or hammered surface reveals a subtle harmony between technical precision and expressive power.
His creations, whether tableware, artistic ironwork, or unique pieces commissioned by museums or places of worship, embody a metalwork art that is at once understated, powerful, and poetic. They embody a refined aesthetic, attention to detail, and a unique ability to make the material vibrate. For him, metal becomes a living surface, capturing light, evoking breath, revealing beauty in the smallest relief.
His work subtly explores the tensions between structure and lightness, permanence and movement, memory and invention. It demonstrates technical virtuosity at the service of a singular artistic vision.
Received numerous awards for the excellence of his work, Simon Charbonnier has notably received the Grand Prix Régional des Métiers d'Art d'Aquitaine – in 1997 for tradition, then in 2003 for contemporary creation – as well as the Prix Régional du Club Dunhill-Prestige in 1998. These distinctions recognize both the quality of his technique and the depth of his artistic approach.
Today, Simon Charbonnier passionately shares his expertise, striving to transmit this artistic craft in a vibrant and demanding way. He trains and supports those who wish, in turn, to give shape to metal and engage in dialogue with this untamed material.
Lydia, co-founder of Studio Ler alongside Jessica Richard, has always been driven by a deep passion for creation. Drawing, in particular, has played a central role in her career and has largely shaped her professional path. After seven years of design studies, punctuated by experiences alongside major figures such as Mathieu Lehanneur and Pierre Favresse, she worked freelance before joining Ikea, where she worked for six years as an interior designer on various development projects.
In 2015, she launched Studio Ler with her husband Renato, a stonemason. They both discovered the world of lava stone and its enameling, a material with rare aesthetic and technical qualities. Eager to perfect their skills, they moved to Auvergne and trained at the Volvic School of Architecture. There, they developed a unique artistic language based on color, material, and experimentation.
Renato's death in 2018 profoundly disrupted this shared adventure. However, she decided to continue developing the studio alone, driven by renewed creative energy and a desire to honor their initial vision. She then moved the workshop to Brittany, to Saint-Nicolas-du-Pélem, in a larger space conducive to creation, transmission, and innovation.
Studio Ler became a full-fledged lava enameling workshop, while maintaining a dual identity of craftsmanship and design. This uniqueness allows each project to be considered holistically, from the raw material to the formal design, combining traditional know-how with a contemporary perspective. The workshop develops pieces rooted in a quest for timelessness, where technical mastery interacts with a strong artistic sensibility.
Olfactory Designer and Explorer of the Invisible
Olfactory designer and perfumer Carole Calvez shapes perfume as a sensory and narrative language. Trained in applied arts, she developed a fascination with scent at an early age, an intangible yet deeply evocative material. At the intersection of sensory design, scenography, and perfumery, she designs bespoke olfactory experiences for luxury brands, museums, cultural institutions, and immersive events.
In 2017, she founded Iris & Morphée, a studio-laboratory dedicated to olfactory creation. Her approach, both sensitive and rigorous, draws on a detailed knowledge of raw materials, diffusion techniques, and strong artistic intuition. Each project becomes an encounter with a place, a story, an emotion, giving rise to a true olfactory score, often developed in dialogue with noses, artists, architects, or scientists.
Carole conceives of perfume as an emotional design, capable of altering our perception of space and awakening buried memories. Her work gives central importance to smell, a long-neglected sense, to offer a different interpretation of the world: more sensory, immersive, and intimate.
Based at the JAD (Jardin des métiers d'art et du design), she continues her research in conjunction with other disciplines, and since 2022 has collaborated with the European project "Odeuropa," dedicated to the promotion of olfactory heritage.
Recognized as one of the emerging figures in olfactory design, Carole Calvez invites us to slow down, to feel, to reconnect with the memory of scents—and to re-enchant our way of inhabiting the world.
A fashion designer with a unique universe, Stéphane Plassier cultivates an artistic approach to clothing, where the body becomes a medium for expression and textiles a territory for experimentation. Trained in art and fashion design, he freely navigates between performance, costume, design, and contemporary creation.
Known for his poetic silhouettes and often sculpted or draped pieces, he views clothing as a visual and emotional language. His work defies ready-to-wear conventions, borrowing as much from theater, rituals, and the collective imagination. Each creation tells a story, often instinctive, always personal.
Founder of his own studio and a regular collaborator with fashion houses, cultural institutions, and artists, he also designs scenographic projects and installations. His universe is populated by transformed materials, repurposed objects, and visual and textile gestures.
A workshop speaker at the Institut Français de la Mode and La Cambre, Stéphane Plassier shares his passion for creative freedom, the right gesture, and a sensory approach to fashion. In his workshops, he invites us to unlearn codes in order to better invent.
Laurent Conversin, better known as Manus, a nod to manual gestures, is a rigorous and passionate blacksmith who combines tradition and modernity in his work. A self-taught artist with an atypical background, he draws his inspiration as much from raw materials as from medieval art, developing a practice at the intersection of craftsmanship, sculpture, and transmission.
Manus shapes hot metal as one sculpts the memory of an ancient past. His forge is a living space where fire, breath, and manual gesture take on their full importance. He creates unique pieces, whether utilitarian objects, architectural elements, or delicate jewelry, in which each hammer blow bears the trace of the body and time. For several years, he has led introductory and advanced blacksmithing courses, with the aim of imparting more than just expertise: sensitivity, focus, and attentive listening to oneself and the material. He guides his apprentices with rigor and kindness, in an environment where gesture becomes a true language.
Committed to promoting manual skills and rediscovering so-called "lost" crafts, Manus belongs to this new generation of artisans who place gesture at the heart of contemporary creation, blending transmission, freedom, and resistance to the frenetic pace of time.
The art of design at the service of experience
Renowned French designer Patrick Jouin has established himself for over two decades as one of the most unique creators of his generation. Trained at ENSCI–Les Ateliers, he began his career alongside Philippe Starck before founding his own agency, Patrick Jouin ID, in 1999. He quickly developed a recognizable visual and functional language, at the intersection of industrial design, furniture, scenography, and interior architecture.
His approach is distinguished by his extreme attention to use, gesture, and emotion. Whether for large-scale production or custom projects, he infuses each object, each space, with a form of elegant simplicity—never decorative, always meaningful.
Rewarded with numerous distinctions (including the Compasso d'Oro, and Designer of the Year from Maison&Objet and the Salon du Meuble de Paris), Patrick Jouin has also been a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts since 2021. His work is featured in the collections of MoMA (New York), the Centre Pompidou, and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.
Designing Hospitality with Meaning and Elegance
Canadian-born architect and interior designer Sanjit Manku is recognized for his sensitive and narrative vision of architecture. A graduate of the University of Waterloo, he moved to France where he enriched his career with several agencies before co-founding Jouin Manku with Patrick Jouin in 2006.
His approach is characterized by a unique ability to blend innovation, respect for heritage, and emotion in projects for hotels, restaurants, museums, and cultural spaces. For him, each space carries a story that must be revealed while integrating contemporary expectations. He strives to create spaces that are elegant, functional, and profoundly human, where the sensory and narrative experience become central. His iconic achievements include international projects such as La Mamounia in Marrakech, the Haras de Strasbourg, and the Mutigny Resort Hotel in Champagne, where he successfully combined modernity with local identity.
Sanjit Manku embodies architecture that welcomes, narrates, and engages, making each project an immersion where hospitality is fully experienced.
Marie-Anne Thieffry is a visual artist born in 1964 in Normandy. After an initial career spanning over 25 years as an art director in advertising, she chose to devote herself entirely to handcrafting in 2005, opening her own studio.
A graduate of ESAG-Penninghen and ENSAAMA-Olivier de Serres in interior design, she now applies her expertise to a material she poetically reinvents: recycled cardboard. Through a unique technique she calls "cardboard lace," she explores the expressive potential of this humble material, which she cuts, crumples, braids, and laminates to create sculptures and lighting fixtures imbued with lightness and refinement.
Sensitive to environmental issues, her work is part of an approach to reclaiming discarded materials, where each piece questions our relationship to matter, gesture, and light. Inspired by architects such as Frank Gehry and Shigeru Ban, she combines technical rigor, creativity, and the ability to share her expertise. Winner of the Audience Award at the International Paper Triennial in 2017 and the European Prize for Applied Arts in 2022, Marie-Anne Thieffry is also supported by the Rémy Cointreau Foundation, which assisted in the acquisition of essential equipment for her studio.
Archaeologist – Engineer at INRAP, lecturer, specialist in coppersmithing and ancient metallurgy
Nicolas Thomas is an archaeologist and engineer at INRAP (National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research), a recognized specialist in ancient metallurgy and coppersmithing, a complex craft he explores through a dual scientific and experimental approach.
For over twenty years, he has conducted in-depth research on the manufacturing techniques, techniques, materials, and production circuits associated with medieval and modern coppersmithing. He has led or co-organized numerous public and scientific experiments, reconstructing bronze workshops, melting furnaces, and brass production processes using cementation. His work is now a benchmark in the field.
Holding some thirty excavation permits, he has participated in over 80 archaeological operations and written some fifty reports. He also leads international assignments (Spain, Cambodia, Algeria, Lebanon) and regularly collaborates with archaeometry laboratories for detailed material analysis (metallography, SEM-EDS, PIXE, XRD).
Trained in the history and archaeology of technology, he combines the perspectives of materials chemistry, production economics, and object anthropology. His expertise covers medieval and urban archaeology, stakeholder networks, and material production logics. He also uses statistical tools (multivariate analyses) to model technical practices based on material remains.
Committed to the dissemination of knowledge, he has organized numerous experimental archaeology workshops, participated in documentaries (radio and television), and given around twenty public lectures internationally. He has also curated exhibitions. A lecturer for over fifteen years, he has trained numerous students and young researchers in ancient techniques, materials analysis, and experimental approaches. He is the author of approximately one hundred publications, including three books, and regularly speaks at scientific conferences in France and abroad.
Recipient of a Wallonia-Brussels International Excellence Scholarship in 2021, he was a visiting researcher for a year at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCLouvain), at the National Archaeology Research Center.
At the intersection of scientific research, experimentation, and transmission, Nicolas Thomas embodies a vibrant and rigorous archaeology, committed to the techniques, materials, and intelligence of ancient know-how.
An artist between matter, memory, and movement.
Born in Moscow, Katia Terpigoreva began her career in journalism, working for nearly twenty years in the worlds of design, architecture, and contemporary art. But at 35, she chose a completely different path: visual art. After a stint in Italy, she settled in Aveyron, where she has lived and worked since 2010.
A self-taught artist, Katia develops a free, organic practice that escapes academic frameworks. Her approach is part of a sensory exploration of materials—porcelain, stoneware, wool, fabric, cement, and even burnt wood—which she assembles, transforms, and repurposes. She favors slow, repetitive gestures, reminiscent of craftsmanship, and allows natural processes (drying, firing, fiber tension, etc.) to contribute to the final form of the work. Her creations evoke both plant and mineral elements, somewhere between imaginary archaeological artifacts and ritual objects. They evoke an aesthetic that is both primitive and contemporary, influenced by minimalism, Italian anti-design, brutalist architecture, and the silent forms of nature. Her work exhibits a constant tension between fragility and resistance, between emptiness and matter.
In addition to her artistic practice, Katia Terpigoreva collaborates with Atelier Blanc (Villefranche-de-Rouergue), where she has presented several installations, including the remarkable Sans souci, composed of hundreds of porcelain flowers suspended in the art center's gardens.
"I am a girl without roots," she confides. Cosmopolitan and free, she creates a poetic and committed body of work, driven by a simple but essential desire: to make the world more beautiful.
Chloé Grevaz and François Dubois, nomadic glassblowers, immersed in history and creation, met in the workshops of the National Glass School in Yzeure, in the Allier region. They completed three years of training there before being recruited by the Cristalleries Royales de Saint-Louis. During their eight years at this excellent glassworks, they refined their skills, refined their techniques, and developed a collaborative working relationship that would take them far.
In 2011, François was awarded the title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France (Best Craftsman of France), with Chloé at his side as his assistant. At the same time, they continued their apprenticeship with glassmaker Allain Guillot, a MOF (Professional Craftsman of the Year) based in the Dordogne region.
In May 2014, they founded their own workshop together: Les Infondus. They then left the world of salaried work to embrace a life of independence and exploration. Their practice has become nomadic, punctuated by traveling demonstrations across Europe, while remaining rooted in their Moselle workshop.
Today, their work revolves around three areas: archaeological experimentation, the creation of historical facsimiles, and the production of contemporary tableware, designed and crafted entirely by them.
A craftsman, coppersmith, and designer for over twenty years, Wilfrid Jolly explores the expressive potential of metal through copperware, sculpture, and designer furniture. Trained in copper and brass techniques at the Olivier de Serres School of Applied Arts, he now teaches there, continuing the link between transmission and living practice.
Based in the Tarn region, he develops a unique body of work that blends traditional expertise with contemporary formal research. He regularly collaborates with designers, museums, and heritage institutions, while pursuing a sensitive and demanding personal approach. A laureate of the Rémy Cointreau Foundation, which supports exceptional artisans, he embodies a committed and poetic vision of metalworking.
His work is distinguished by a particular attention to gesture, the rhythm of hammering, and the "breathing" of the metal, seeking to reveal the inner life of the material. Wilfrid Jolly generously shares his techniques and philosophy of craftsmanship, where the intelligence of the hand meets the poetry of the material.
At Campus MaNa, he offers a lively and rigorous approach to coppersmithing, based on observation, experimentation, and attentiveness to the gesture.
Samuel Latour is a sculptor based in Rabastens, near Toulouse, where he lives and works.
A graduate of the École Boulle in Paris, he specialized in artistic turning, particularly in wood and bronze. He subsequently enriched his practice by collaborating with designers, artisans, and artists in workshops and art foundries.
His work sculpts an intimate relationship with the material. Whether in wood, bronze, steel, or plaster, Samuel Latour blends rigorous technique with sensitive intuition. Through precise gestures—turning, molding, and chiseling—he explores the balance between fluid lines and structured forms, between stability and movement.
His sculptures are conceived as volumes to be written, conveying an abstract language made of lines, suspended gestures, and sketched geometries. Each work reveals the traces of its creation, combining formal rigor and vitality of gesture. Based in his studio on the banks of the Tarn River, he develops an approach in which sculpture becomes a space for artistic research and an extension of the body in movement.
His work has been supported by the Rémy Cointreau Foundation and is featured in the Michelangelo Foundation's Homo Faber Guide, which promotes excellence in contemporary crafts and expertise.
French-Canadian artist Sophie Manessiez lives and works in Quebec. Trained in visual arts and communications, she began her career in events before turning fully to ceramics in 2007. She trained over the years in various workshops in France and Quebec, and in 2021 obtained a diploma in fine craft techniques – ceramics in Montreal.
Her work explores the tensions between uniformity and singularity, between the fragility of life and the strength of connections. Through installations composed of porcelain modules, she constructs sensitive networks where each element asserts its own identity while contributing to a coherent whole. Inspired by the gestures of wire art, she infuses porcelain, a material that is simultaneously supple, rigid, light, and brittle, with a new fluidity.
Her works evoke matter, light, and memory: matter as a language, light as a revealer of delicacy, memory as a trace of the gestures, connections, and interconnections of life. Exhibited in Canada, the United States and France, and an active member of the Conseil des métiers d’art du Québec, Sophie Manessiez conducts artistic research that is at once personal, collective and profoundly poetic.
Born in 1965, Éric Leblanc discovered the plastering trade at the age of 14 in Nantes. At 17, he joined the Compagnons du Devoir and embarked on a ten-year Tour de France. This journey took him to France, but also to Germany and Italy, notably Venice and Florence, where he trained in modeling and stamping with masters of the Venetian school. These techniques lastingly enriched his approach to the craft.
In 1997, he founded his own workshop, Les Métiers du Plâtre, in Brain-sur-l'Authion, Anjou. In 2007, his company was awarded the Living Heritage Company label, a national recognition that recognizes his expertise in the transmission and preservation of traditional craft techniques.
He pursues a dual activity: the restoration of historic monuments and contemporary design. He has participated in major projects, such as the reconstruction of the Baroque altarpiece in the chapel of the Château du Plessis-Blutière, which earned him the Grand Prix départemental de la restauration du patrimoine in 2007. At the same time, he explores bolder forms, blending tradition and innovation, as evidenced by the creation in 2015 of a plaster dress worn at an event by Miss Pays de la Loire, the future Miss France.
Particularly committed to the transmission of his knowledge, he trains apprentices in his workshop, speaks at applied arts schools and universities, and regularly shares his expertise with the public, notably during the European Days of Crafts. His commitment and the quality of his work have earned him several accolades, including the prestigious Liliane Bettencourt Prize for Hand Intelligence® in 2009 and the Jury's Favorite Prize at the Placo Trophies in 2019.
He embodies a demanding, vibrant, and generous vision of the crafts, where a passion for the hand is combined with a desire to share and innovate.
Nothing predestined Pierre-Henri Beyssac for woodworking. It was during a wandering academic career that he discovered marquetry, a decisive encounter with an unpredictable material that would become his medium of expression.
Trained at the Boulle School, from which he graduated with a Master of Fine Arts (DMA), he continued his apprenticeship in Italy at the European Restoration Center in Florence, then established a workshop in Réunion Island for the IRMA. Upon his return, he joined the Spindler workshop near Strasbourg, where he enriched his practice with contemporary techniques and approaches. After five years of teaching at the Boulle School, he chose to settle between Paris and the Drôme region to devote himself fully to creation.
Elected Meilleur Ouvrier de France (Best Craftsman of France) in marquetry in 2015, Pierre-Henri Beyssac tirelessly explores the boundaries of his art. Through Atelier Beyssac, he blends traditional craftsmanship with innovation, developing numerous collaborations with haute couture, architecture, and luxury brands. He explores marquetry as a living language, open to decoration, furniture, and art objects.
His approach remains driven by one constant: spontaneity of gesture. Inspired by nature, he also creates unique pieces, guided by a sensitivity to materials, textures, and colors.
Alongside his creative work, he is committed to sharing his expertise. Since 2021, he has been teaching wood marquetry at the Puy-en-Velay prison, thus extending his social and educational commitment.
Between artisanal mastery and creative freedom, Pierre-Henri Beyssac embodies a generation of creators reinventing the crafts without ever betraying their essence.
Karen Grigorian is one of the very few master pleaters still practicing in France. Heir to a demanding, often overlooked expertise, he is today one of its most committed guardians. Arriving from Armenia in the 1990s, he settled in Paris and began his career at the Gérard Lognon workshop, a leading authority on haute couture pleating. He honed his skills there for over fourteen years, collaborating with the greatest fashion houses. But when the workshop was acquired by Chanel, he chose to leave, keen to preserve his independence and the freedom of his work. In 2014, he founded La Maison du Pli, a family workshop where he gave new impetus to his craft. Using hand-shaped cardboard molds, he creates complex pleats—sunflower, accordion, fan, and floral—which he applies to materials as varied as textiles, leather, and metal. Precision work, between technique and poetry, requiring perfect mastery of gesture, time, and warmth.
Karen Grigorian embodies a vision of the profession based on rigor, transmission, and research. He collaborates with the worlds of luxury, fashion, design, stage, and leather goods, while remaining faithful to artisanal tradition.
Discreet, he favors working in the shadows over media exposure. Yet, behind this restraint, we discover a passionate craftsman, for whom pleating is much more than a skill: a language, an art of mastered repetition, a link between memory and creation.
Since 2017, he has also shared his expertise, particularly in Denmark, where he trains costume designers and stylists for the royal theaters. Many designers now entrust him with new materials to experiment with: wax, seaweed, plastic, animal intestines… Nothing escapes his curiosity or the rigor of his vision.
Master glassmaker and founder of Studio Vitrail Bianconi
A passionate master glassmaker and founder of Studio Vitrail Bianconi, Bryce Bianconi perpetuates an exceptional craft, where ancestral know-how and contemporary creation meet. For over 20 years, he has worked in Paris and the Île-de-France region to preserve the beauty of stained glass heritage, while reinventing this art through modern and custom-made compositions.
With his team, Bryce devotes a large part of his work to the maintenance and restoration of antique stained glass windows, whether in religious buildings, heritage buildings, or private interiors. Each delicate and historically rich work receives meticulous attention, respecting traditional techniques: glass painting, replacement of lead grids, installation of double glazing, etc. The interventions are tailored to each individual, carried out either on-site using the repiquage technique or in the workshop, to ensure a complete and lasting restoration.
But Studio Vitrail Bianconi isn't limited to conservation: it reinvents stained glass as a living art, creating contemporary works that play on opacity, transparency, materials, and colors. Bryce is particularly fond of geometric designs and subtle harmonies of refined hues, designed in close collaboration with architects and interior designers. For him, stained glass is above all a dialogue between light and space, enhancing volumes and transforming interior ambiance.
True to the values of authenticity, nobility, and precision, Bryce and his team are always responsive and enthusiastic, ready to take on the most demanding projects with renowned professionalism, whether for individuals or businesses.
Trained at the Lycée Octave Feuillet, a leading French featherwork brand, Julien Vermeulen is an outstanding designer who blends tradition and innovation with rare mastery. With a BTS in Fashion Design and a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts and Arts Sciences, he quickly established himself as a key figure in the world of haute couture and art.
Since 2015, Julien has collaborated with leading fashion houses, including Yves Saint-Laurent, Dior, Givenchy, Cartier, Lanvin, Schiaparelli, and Dolce & Gabbana, bringing a unique signature to each of his creations, combining delicacy and audacity. In 2020, he joined a Parisian fashion house to represent him, marking a turning point by presenting his work for the first time at the "La Promenade du Collectionneur" exhibition at the Hôtel Solvay in Brussels.
For Julien, feathers are much more than just a material: they are an infinite source of exploration. Respecting ancestral know-how, he constantly pushes technical boundaries, inventing new ways of working with feathers, whether burned, curled, colored, woven, or glued, to create works of art in their own right. Peacock, ostrich, goose, or pheasant: each feather becomes a masterpiece, whether in a painting, sculpture, or decorative object.
His work Black Ocean, created in 2017 for the Espace Toguna at the Palais de Tokyo, is a testament to this virtuosity. Composed of more than 12,000 meticulously trimmed and dyed turkey feathers, this 20 m² fresco required a thousand hours of work in just fifteen days. This feat earned him the prestigious Bettencourt Prize for the Intelligence of the Hand in 2018.
More recently, in 2021, Black Gem was added to the permanent collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, confirming the recognition of his talent by the art world. In 2022, he reinterpreted a console table from the Mobilier National for the exhibition "Les Alienés," creating Eden, a poetic and contemporary homage to the feather.
Julien Vermeulen perfectly embodies the marriage of excellent craftsmanship and contemporary creativity, making featherwork a living and constantly evolving art.
Hands in porcelain, heart between two cultures
Originally from Japan, Yuko Kuramatsu settled in the Poitiers region several years ago, where she found a new home, conducive to creativity.
Since childhood, she has cultivated a true passion for crafts. Her mother introduced her to the art of ceramics at a young age, taking her to discover pieces from different Japanese regions. From this curiosity grew a deep desire: not just to admire, but to create with her hands.
The real turning point came in 2012, when she met ceramicist Dany Souriau. This encounter marked the beginning of an artistic journey and her introduction to the world of clay. While training in Dany's studio, Yuko discovered the techniques of the craft, experimented with various techniques, and developed a passion for throwing, a practice that requires both rigor and sensitivity.
Gradually, she turned to a material that particularly appealed to her: porcelain. She became passionate about the technique of nerikomi, which involves combining different colored clays to create patterns within the mass. This delicate and complex technique echoes her Japanese roots and her taste for understated and delicate aesthetics.
Her inspirations found an echo in the work of artisans such as Eiji Murofushi and Mika Sato, whose careers she closely followed. In turn, she began creating porcelain pieces using this method, developing a personal style at the intersection of gesture and detail.
Through Dany Souriau, she also met ceramicist Florence Beudin Lesaint. A wonderful bond developed between the three women, who met regularly to share, experiment, and develop their shared practice.
Today, Yuko Kuramatsu builds a sensitive and refined universe, reflecting her journey, between Japan and France, between memory and creation. Rooted in her new environment while remaining faithful to her origins, she shapes a body of work that speaks simultaneously of transmission, transformation and silent beauty.
Based in Paris, Agnès Sevestre is an artist, craftswoman, and instructor. A graduate of the École Boulle in bronze chasing and setting, she creates unique jewelry, objects, and sculptures in her studio, imbued with poetry and strength. Her world, deeply inspired by nature and the aesthetics of Art Nouveau, reinvents the codes of classical ornamentation to give them a resolutely contemporary feel.
Each piece she creates is born from a sensitive dialogue with the material. The metal, initially rigid and cold, transforms under her hands: it softens, molds, and comes to life. This transformation is at the heart of her artistic and pedagogical approach.
With over 11 years of experience, Agnès enthusiastically shares her expertise, whether during workshops or with students at the DNMADE Création Métal program at ENSAAMA. Deeply committed to the transmission of artistic crafts, she pays particular attention to younger generations as well as audiences less familiar with these practices.
In 2024, she published Découvrir la ciselure, a self-published book introducing students to this subtle and delicate art, with the aim of making learning it accessible to as many people as possible. She is also a member of the jury for the Un des Meilleurs Apprentis de France competition, contributing with her attentive and caring eye to uncovering the talents of tomorrow.
Karl Mazlo forges his own path in the world of jewelry, far from the conventions of classic luxury. A graduate of the École Boulle, he forged his vision through sensitive experiences, particularly in Japan, where the philosophy of Wabi-Sabi transformed his view of matter, time, and imperfection.
In his studio at the Villa du Lavoir in Paris, he breathes new life into forgotten materials: pieces of ceramic, architectural debris, and raw metals. Each piece of jewelry he creates is a unique piece, born from a dialogue between memory, material, and craftsmanship.
Between diverted tradition and discreet innovation, his artisanal practice flirts with contemporary art. His work, imbued with intention, bears the mark of gesture and a strong desire to pass on knowledge. Winner of the Prize for Intelligence of the Hand, Karl Mazlo champions jewelry that is local, ethical, and deeply rooted in reality.
Based in the heart of Paris's 11th arrondissement, Claudia Cauville has been developing a unique ceramics practice in her studio for several years. Halfway between craftsmanship and design, her work explores the forms of furniture, vases, and abstract sculpture. Her creations, conceived as families of forms, strive to create a dialogue between volumes and textures, in a subtle interplay of layered glazes. Since 2019, she has collaborated with architects to create custom furniture.
Trained at the prestigious Central Saint Martins in London, she forged her skills alongside Ariane Prin, Stuart Carey, and Silo Studio. She then completed her studies with a Master's degree in Luxury and Craftsmanship at ÉCAL (Lausanne), confirming her commitment to a demanding vision of materials and gestures. Returning to Paris, she joined the studios of India Mahdavi and Hermès, before launching her own independent venture. His pieces can now be seen at Volume Ceramics, Galerie Suzan and on Pamono, demonstrating his growing influence on the international contemporary ceramics scene.
A graduate of the École Boulle chasing workshop in Paris, Kim Jude honed her expertise alongside renowned artisans in France and abroad. In 2019, she opened her own workshop, where she elegantly combines the worlds of jewelry, lighting, and decoration.
Her work draws on multiple influences, blending history and nature. Her style evolves between the geometric purity of Art Deco and organic forms, such as flower petals or butterfly wings. Across a wide range of objects, from chandeliers to earrings, she masterfully combines finely chiseled brass with blown glass, creating pieces that are both precious and poetic.
Maxime Perrolle has always had a fascination for plant life, and particularly for trees, true witnesses to time and nature. This passion naturally led him to work with wood, a living material that he shapes with exceptional skill.
After training in cabinetmaking and then in artistic woodturning at the Escoulen School, a world leader in this field, he opened his first workshop in Ivry-sur-Seine before joining the prestigious JAD (Jardins des Métiers d'Art et du Design) in Sèvres in 2022. There, he develops his contemporary creations, blending ancestral traditions with modern innovation.
Through techniques such as turning, carving, pyrography, and the application of delicate natural finishes, Maxime shapes wood with a precision and sensitivity that transcend the material itself. His works, often of medium to large size, evoke both the fragility and the strength of trees, playing with light, texture, and form, drawing inspiration from nature and the refinement of Japanese ceramics.
Recognized with prestigious awards (Young Craftsman of the Year Award in 2019, Rémy Cointreau Foundation Prize in 2023) and exhibited at major international fairs such as the Révélations Biennale at the Grand Palais and Milan Design Week, he is considered one of the most promising talents in contemporary artistic woodturning. His pieces appeal to both art galleries and leading luxury brands, such as Cartier.
Beyond his own creative work, Maxime is passionately committed to sharing his knowledge and skills, convinced that the true richness of his craft lies in transmission and continuity.
By crafting each piece, he pays homage to the tree, giving it a second life where tradition and innovation coexist in a subtle and poetic balance.
Mayeul Gauvin is a painter and material artist who creates bespoke decorative works, characterized by a deep respect for craftsmanship and storytelling. After studying art history and literature, she turned to decorative painting, where she developed a unique approach that blends traditional techniques with contemporary research. Her practice revolves around materials, textures, and surface effects, including the development of her own recipe for papier-mâché. Inspired by natural textures, textile patterns, and art history, she approaches each project as an in-situ narrative, conceived in dialogue with the space. Her work, both visually rich and sensory, reflects a commitment to minimizing the environmental impact of artistic creation.
Marie Dubois discovered marquetry in 2013, while studying cabinetmaking at the École Boulle in Paris. She quickly recognized this discipline as much more than a decorative skill: it was a true visual language, capable of expressing emotions, capturing light, and exploring materials.
Her wood marquetry practice is distinguished by a profoundly contemporary approach. Far from classical or figurative codes, she infuses this ancestral technique with an aesthetic inspired by abstraction, minimalism, and the textured work of contemporary art. She works with the grain, knots, and natural nuances of the wood, as well as the light it captures and reflects. She sometimes combines other materials such as brass or copper, adding a tactile and contrasting dimension to her works.
Her artistic world explores the subtle dialogues between colors, geometric or organic shapes, and living materials. Each piece thus becomes a sensitive composition, constructed from carefully selected wood species arranged in a quest for balance and rhythm.
Straddling the worlds of art and interior design, her approach offers unique or limited-edition pieces, designed as both visual works and decorative elements. She advocates a joyful, intuitive, and colorful marquetry style, where free movement and instinct guide creation rather than fixed drawing.
Through this sensitive and innovative approach, she contributes to evolving the image of marquetry, taking it beyond its traditional framework to reveal its full expressive and contemporary richness.
(Portrait, Marie Dubois © Gilles Leimdorfer)
Based in Finistère, Jérôme Clochard continues his research between France and abroad, asserting work after work his unique place in the landscape of contemporary mosaics. After an initial career as a scuba diver in La Défense, he trained in mosaics in 2001 with masters from the Ravenna school, before founding his Absolut Mosaïque workshop in 2005, which combines contemporary creation, decoration and heritage restoration. He collaborates with major players such as Vinci and Eiffage, working on emblematic sites such as the facade of Printemps Haussmann, the mosaics of the Opéra Comique, and the pavement of the Opéra Garnier, the restoration of which earned him the Geste d'Or prize in 2016, which he won again in 2017 for his work on the Phoenix car of the Belmond British Pullman train. His partnership with the Belmond/LVMH group continued in 2019 with the creation of six sets for the legendary Venice Simplon-Orient-Express (V.S.O.E.). That same year, he was honored by Ateliers d’Art de France, which published the monograph Fragments d’Émotions, and received the Métiers d’art et Patrimoine bâti prize. A committed artist, he participated in COP 21 in 2015 with the installation Atlantes, presented at the Tropical Aquarium in Paris, evoking the fragile balance between nature and humanity.
His work, deeply influenced by abstract expressionism and the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, explores inner rhythm, light, and the subtle movements of tesserae, blending mosaic, painting, and sculpture in a contemplative quest.
In Villaines-les-Rochers, a mecca of French basketry, Catherine Romand weaves decades of expertise and creative freedom in her expert hands. A 1981 graduate of the National School of Wickerwork and Basketry, she is the first woman to graduate from the rattan furniture industry. For over 40 years, she has been crafting wicker with exceptional rigor, blending artisanal tradition and artistic research.
Alongside her husband, Christophe Romand, a Meilleur Ouvrier de France (Best Craftsman of France) in basketry since 1994, she cultivates her own willow bed, championing a comprehensive approach, from field to form. Together, in their workshop, they reinterpret ancient techniques to create a contemporary language, while ensuring the ecological and aesthetic quality of their raw material.
As much an artist as a craftswoman, Catherine Romand has always sought to expand the scope of basketry. In 2003, she received the SEMA Prize in Contemporary Art for her work at the intersection of sculpture and craftsmanship. In 2024, she was again recognized for her project, Tresser l’ombre, a monumental work conceived in collaboration with designer Clémence Althabegoïty, which earned them the Liliane Bettencourt Prize for the Intelligence of the Hand, in the Dialogues category. The installation, designed as a living shade structure, combines mastery of curves and solar calculations, and perfectly illustrates her approach: a sensitive, spatial basketwork, in resonance with the living.
Catherine Romand now shares her expertise through demanding and inspiring training courses. She shares her techniques, her precision, but also her vision, that of a rapidly evolving craft, capable of appealing to designers, artists, architects, and plant enthusiasts alike.
Nicolas Pinon is one of the few plant-based lacquer artists in France. Trained in cabinetmaking at the École Boulle, he discovered Japanese Urushi lacquer by chance in 2003 and decided to devote himself to it fully. He trained in Barcelona, then joined the Brugier workshop in Paris, where he restored and created decorations for international projects.
Passionate about this ancient material extracted from the sap of an Asian tree, he deepened his expertise in Japan in 2006, working with the great master Nagatoshi Onishi. There, he learned the kanshitsu technique, used to create statues for Buddhist temples. This immersive training gave him an intimate understanding of lacquer, both in its technical rigor and its spiritual dimension.
Back in France, he became an independent lacquer decorator in 2008. He collaborates with design and architecture figures such as Jacques Garcia and Joseph Karam, while developing his own research. In 2017, he took over a master lacquerer's workshop in Paris, on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, where he still works.
His practice is based on patience, repetition, and excellence of technique. Each piece requires time, sometimes up to fifty layers of lacquer, with several weeks of drying time between each. This deliberate slowness runs counter to the contemporary world.
Nicolas Pinon considers lacquering a collaborative craft. Wood, metal, ceramic: his works are often the result of dialogues with other artisans, designers, or artists. This philosophy of sharing is also reflected in his desire to pass on his knowledge: he trains apprentices, teaches at GRETA and the École Boulle, and leads workshops on Japanese know-how. Recipient of several major awards, including the Banque Populaire Foundation, the Young Talents Prize for Artistic Crafts, and most importantly, the Liliane Bettencourt Prize for the Intelligence of the Hand (Dialogues category) in 2020, his work has been recognized for its finesse, depth, and ability to bridge tradition and innovation.
Today, Nicolas Pinon continues to bring vegetable lacquer to life between Paris and Japan, pushing the aesthetic and technical limits of this ancestral material. He champions a sensitive, demanding, and profoundly human approach to artistic crafts.
Born from a career change and a fascination with light, Valérie Colas des Francs has established herself as one of the leading figures in straw marquetry, a French craft originating in the 17th century and revived during the Art Deco period.
A student of Lison de Caunes, a master craftswoman and leading figure in the field, she trained alongside her from 2000 before opening her own workshop in Nemours in 2014. Since then, she has combined heritage restoration, contemporary creation, and bespoke pieces for a French and international clientele.
Straw, which she describes as a "simple, natural, clean, and luminous" material, has fueled her aesthetic exploration for over twenty years: seemingly rustic, it reveals shifting reflections and an unexpected modernity under her hands.
By diverting this art towards new territories, furniture, jewelry, fashion or visual arts, Valérie Colas des Francs creates a dialogue between simplicity and innovation, revealing all the richness of a humble material that has become a vehicle for elegance and contemporary emotion.
These three French designers have chosen bread as their experimental ground. Together, they form Studio CoPain, a collective that redefines the boundaries of design by blending craftsmanship, food, and storytelling.
Far from the kitchen, it is in their studio that these creators explore the symbolic and sensory dimension of bread, considered as a material for creation in its own right. Their approach, at the crossroads of culinary design, scenography, and product design, questions the role of gesture, know-how, and tradition in contemporary creation.
With their project, Croûte que Croûte (Crust That Crust), they repurpose bread dough to create chairs, vases, and lamps, all entirely handmade from unworked dough, a paste sculpted like clay. Inspired by traditional decorative techniques, their pieces oscillate between artisanal homage and reflection on our relationship with this universal food.
Through their creations, Studio CoPainc celebrates bread as a symbol of connection, sharing, and heritage, and invites us to rediscover the poetry of simple gestures. Blending art, design, and collective memory, their approach reinvents a material as humble as it is essential.
Born in Bolzano in 1968 and a graduate in architecture from the IUAV in Venice, Lara De Sio combines technical rigor with artistic audacity. After a career in architecture and design, notably at Venini and Barovier & Toso in Murano, she immersed herself in the world of ceramics, training in Naked Raku with the British ceramist David Roberts. Her work is distinguished by an exceptional mastery of the material, where each piece reveals a subtle balance between structure and emotion, tradition and modernity.
Since her first group exhibitions in Venice in 2005, Lara De Sio has participated in numerous international exhibitions: from the Talavera de la Reina Biennale to the Grassi Messe exhibition in Leipzig, and the Taoxichuan Spring Art Fair in China. A recipient of many awards, her works are held in permanent collections in Europe and Asia, attesting to her international acclaim.
A multifaceted artist, she currently explores ceramics and glass, with a constant focus on light, texture, and gesture. Her recent projects, such as the glass sculptures for ArcadeMurano and the solo exhibition Umbrae at the Abscondita Gallery, demonstrate a rare inventiveness and sensitivity. Based in Venice, Lara De Sio embodies the fusion of traditional craftsmanship and contemporary innovation, making each creation a unique visual and tactile journey.
Born in 1977 in Biella, Piedmont, Simone Desirò was immersed in the world of interior design from childhood, inspired by his maternal grandfather and father, both decorators. After completing his studies, he joined the family business, where he honed his taste for decorative craftsmanship.
He furthered his training with specialized courses in gilding, faux marble painting, faux wood, and faux moldings, before discovering the scagliola technique in 2005 at the Rima Artificial Marble Association. A student of master craftsman Silvio Dellavedova, the last custodian of this Piedmontese tradition, Simone Desirò has embraced and reinterpreted this ancient art.
In 2016, his victory in a regional competition marked a turning point: he brought scagliola into the realm of collectible design, reinterpreting it for contemporary tastes. Since then, his collaborations with designers, international galleries and major haute couture houses have allowed him to create unique pieces, consolidating his reputation as one of the most remarkable artisans in the renewal and reconceptualization of this ancestral technique.
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.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pierreyvesmorel
Béatrice Blanchard belongs to a generation of creators who are challenging the established norms of materials. An artist, craftswoman, and designer, she dedicates her work to gilding and contemporary creations where gold, her preferred material, is reinvented far from its classical representations.
Trained in traditional gilding, she lends her expertise to exceptional projects, both in France and abroad. Historical monuments, private residences, heritage sites: her precise and demanding craftsmanship has earned her the attention of those seeking projects where excellence is paramount.
But Béatrice Blanchard doesn't simply perpetuate a traditional craft; she innovates. Her discovery, laGaluchette, transforms gold into organic and mineral surfaces, offering a unique material that blurs the lines between tradition and contemporary creation.
Influenced by the Bauhaus movement and its penchant for interdisciplinary dialogue, she champions meticulous, meaningful, and handcrafted production. Her works—furniture, objects, experiments, and conceptual pieces—are as thought-provoking as they are captivating, asserting a singular aesthetic and a responsible approach to precious materials.
At the crossroads of art and design, Béatrice Blanchard continues her research, questioning the value, origin, and transformation of noble materials, while anchoring gilding in a new modernity.
In Murano, the legendary island of glass, some artisans seem almost born to create. Matteo Seguso is one of them. Born in Venice in 1973, the son of Bruno Seguso, himself a master engraver, Matteo grew up surrounded by glassworks and the glow of the furnaces. Yet, his journey toward the art of glass engraving began relatively late: it wasn't until 1998, at the age of 25, that his father suggested he try his hand at this discipline. Since January 1, 1999, he has taken his turn at the engraver's bench every day, and in 21 years, his passion has only grown.
In the workshop he inherited from his father and his partner Paolo, Matteo transforms vases, glasses, mirrors, and glass objects of all shapes into true works of art. His style, blending traditional engraving with the batter technique, has found its place in numerous private collections around the world. But despite his collaborations with prestigious glassworks and international designers, his attachment to Murano remains unwavering. Battuto, or "beaten" glass, is at the heart of his work. This technique, which involves covering the surface of a glass object with regular or free-form patterns, evokes the effect of hammered copper. Matteo explains that engraving and batteto are simply two different expressions of the same art, requiring the same precise gestures and the use of grinding wheels of varying sizes and shapes. The artisan's imagination and meticulousness then bring to life a unique object, where each stroke bears the master's personality.
For Matteo, being an artisan means freedom, creativity, satisfaction… but also effort and sacrifice. He fondly remembers his first day at the potter's wheel under his father's watchful eye, his first object completed on his own, and his international experiences, particularly in the United States, where he taught his craft. These memories, he says, still fuel his passion today.
Renowned for his dedication and mastery, Matteo Seguso has received numerous national and international awards and has been awarded the MAM (Master of Arts and Crafts), a distinction he believes symbolizes the culmination of his tireless work and unwavering creativity.
In his workshop, each piece is born from ancient, precise, almost ritualistic gestures. Whether working from drawings and models provided by his clients or from his own collection of sketches, Matteo shapes glass with infinite patience and boundless inventiveness. Through him, Murano glass continues to shine, not only for its transparency but also for the soul and passion of its creator.
Based in Marseille, Lucie Le Bouder designs unique stoneware tiles, conceived to interact with the spaces they inhabit. Inspired by architecture, volumes, and materials, she creates ornamental surfaces, glazed or unglazed, to enrich interiors with a strong character. Each piece is designed for a specific location, a particular atmosphere, blending function and emotion.
Trained at the Duperré School and the Nantes School of Fine Arts, Lucie began her career in contemporary art, exploring drawing, sculpture, and site-specific installations. After ten years in the arts, she discovered ceramics in 2020 and founded her own studio in 2023, initially in the Drôme region, before settling in Marseille. There, she develops experimental techniques, from engraving to inlaying recycled glass into stoneware, playing with material, pattern, and light to create unique textures. Her approach blends artisanal expertise with artistic sensibility: each tile becomes a decorative or architectural object in its own right, capable of transforming walls, floors, or furniture into living surfaces. Lucie collaborates with architects, designers, and craftspeople, and shares her expertise through teaching and serving on juries in art and architecture schools.
For Lucie Le Bouder, ceramics are much more than a material: they are a language, a gesture, a perspective on space and life. Each creation invites us to feel the material, perceive the light, and experience beauty in everyday life.
Romuald Mesdagh, an Italian-Belgian master mosaicist, graduated from the prestigious Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli, where he earned the title of Master Mosaicist. After studying painting, drawing, and photography in Belgium and Spain, he furthered his studies in Italy, where he was selected as one of the top six students in his graduating class. He then pursued an advanced specialization program and contributed to official commissions for the school.
In Venice, he co-founded Artefact Mosaic Studio with Alessandra Di Gennaro. The studio is dedicated to creating handcrafted mosaics in Murano glass and select marbles, ranging from realistic portraits to works for residential, religious, and design projects. Recognized for his expertise, he collaborates with prestigious brands such as Tod’s and creates exclusively commissioned mosaics for private and institutional clients in the United States, Kuwait, Hong Kong, and South Korea.
Dewi Brunet is one of the world's few specialists to master and articulate different forms of folding, from origami to pleating and crumpling, in a coherent and innovative practice. With over twenty years of experience, he has dedicated himself to folding for more than a decade, developing a unique approach that lies at the crossroads of art, craft, and scientific research.
For Dewi, folding is not merely a technique: it is an aesthetic language and a lens through which to observe the world. Fascinated by nature's "folded intelligence," he draws inspiration from its structures to create sensitive and innovative applications, whether working with paper, textiles, or biomaterials. His practice, primarily manual, is enriched by contemporary and digital techniques, offering complete mastery of gestures, tools, and design processes.
For many years, he has collaborated with architects, designers, artists, and researchers to develop the folding technique in novel aesthetic and functional uses. This expertise has earned him recognition as a master craftsman from the Michelangelo Foundation, confirming the uniqueness and rigor of his approach.
Maëlys Dayre, a young French artisan designer, explores the boundaries between leather goods, textiles, and crafts with a rare sensitivity. At the age of fourteen, she joined Les Ateliers Grégoire, where leather revealed her first affinities. Her training continued with an apprenticeship at Louis Vuitton's Asnières workshops, where she honed her trunk-making techniques. Graduating top of her class at seventeen, she enrolled at the Duperré School, drawn to the interdisciplinary nature of the curriculum, where she further developed her skills in embroidery, hand and electronic weaving, featherwork, and Lunéville crochet. Her diploma, awarded with highest honors, marked the beginning of an independent practice fueled by artisanal mastery and creative curiosity. Based in Paris, Maëlys divides her time between her embroidery and featherwork studio and the Carnoy Workshops, where she continues to work with weaving and leather goods. Her projects blend art, design, and craftsmanship, from the creation of hybrid objects to lifestyle collections, such as Prémisse, where patinated leathers, woven salmon leather trims, and fragments of exotic hides interact in an elegant dialogue of materials and volumes. Each piece reveals her affinity for the sensuality of curves, the preciousness of the craft, and the valorization of materials, whether they be leather scraps or splits of exotic hides transformed into refined patchwork.
Maëlys Dayre approaches leather as a living material, sensitive to time, marks, and patina, and explores its potential down to the smallest fragment. Her approach is based on the construction of the material before ornamentation, seeking to minimize waste and reveal the richness of forgotten fragments. Through this approach, she transforms leather, textiles and embroidery into contemporary and narrative surfaces, where technique and creativity intertwine to create unique works, at the crossroads of intimacy and exceptional craftsmanship.
Based in London, British artist Elizabeth Kent creates a universe where glass becomes landscape and light, raw material. By combining glass and reflective metals, she composes mirrored works of almost alchemical precision, available as unique pieces and limited editions. Her creations, inspired by natural forms, play with reflectivity to produce subtle optical effects that transform space and invite the viewer to a sensory experience of reflection and landscape. Trained in sculpture at Chelsea School of Art, Elizabeth Kent quickly established herself in the British art scene. Her work has been exhibited in prestigious museums, galleries, and art fairs, including the Victoria and Albert Museum. At the crossroads of contemporary art and fine craftsmanship, she regularly collaborates with the luxury hospitality sector, where her mirrors become installations in their own right, revealing the atmosphere of a space as much as they shape it.
Since 2022, she has also been sharing her expertise in verre églomisé, an ancient technique whose language she renews with understated elegance. Through her teaching as well as in her studio, Elizabeth Kent cultivates the same ambition: to create works where craftsmanship, light, and material unite to give birth to mirrors that not only reflect the world, but reinvent it.
https://www.elizabethkent.co.uk
Originally from Mie Prefecture, Shinichi Maruoka graduated from Kanazawa College of Art, where he specialized in craftsmanship. He joined Hakuza, the iconic Japanese gold leaf workshop, where he has worked for eighteen years. Now Creative Director and head of the workshop, he embodies the company's philosophy: to reveal the intrinsic power and beauty of gold leaf, while mastering the precision of its application on each object.
Shinichi Maruoka doesn't limit himself to traditional techniques: he sometimes shapes the gold leaf himself to fully exploit its potential and latent energy. Every day, he refines his expertise, blending artisanal rigor and creativity to create pieces where meticulousness and expressiveness converge.
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