Designer Sylvie Marechal heads Beau&Bien, a bespoke studio offering contemporary light sculptures, combining cuttingedge technology in lighting and traditional craftsmanship, in truly avant garde creations. A chat with the designer
Impressions: Benoy Sebastian
HOW DID DESIGN HAPPEN TO YOU?
From the very beginning, I was drawing night and day, later on pushed by my family and my environment, I studied medicine, but left after three years. Later, I attended a business school that gave me my first job at the Galerie
Lafayette department store as the Merchandising Manager. After 10 years, I joined Louis Vuitton company to manage the implementation of the newly ready to wear collection in the Louis Vuitton stores, and that’s where I learned how to play with LED. After six years, I decided to go solo. With my two associates, I established a
company around two axes – design innovation and French style with LED for innovation and historical
French chateaux for inspiration and style.
HOW WAS THE JOURNEY?
Do it yourself and control the work that you cannot do has always been my strength. As a designer, I work alone for the concept and creation; but the production is a collaborative process, where I am involved in all stages. It’s fun using porcelain or glass blown as materials. I share a wonderful relationship with the French craftsmen of Limoges- you can say a kind of sensitivity close to the art.
DO YOU AGREE THAT DESIGN IS MUCH MORE THAN WE THINK?
For me design is life. Everything that we touch each day, I perceive it as a design – be it a knife, forks, chopsticks,
glass, cups, cars, pens, and even what we wear. The result is very pragmatic, but the first idea is often very poetic. At the heart of creation, we have inner images and dreams that we want to share and make them come true.
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