Did you draw a lot as a child?

What were the first drawings you

remember creating? Like everyone

else, I started drawing before

writing. I was addicted to it; putting

onto paper what I had going on in

my mind. I haven’t stopped there –

and I love that. It's a viral emotion.

My first drawings were images

of skiing, BMX bikes and cars. I

never sought to be a professional

draughtsman. Instagram, clients

and art collectors have marked

a new chapter in my life and my

drawings have evolved from here.

Which aspects of your background

and upbringing in the French Alps

have shaped your artwork today?

After endless hours, weeks and years

of reading and working with images,

my eyes and my hands focus on

what they reveal to me, what I see,

and what I want to see. Strangely

enough, I feel very much like a

photographer – only with a pen

or a brush.

How has your style evolved over

time? Style has its own way; it’s a

constant and long journey with a

lot of work. And some days you see

something that was there since the

beginning, but you didn’t see or

understand until now. Style evolves

slowly, step by step. Good things

take time. Four years ago, design

was my main business focus and I

needed to go back to drawings. So,

at the end of day, when everyone

was sleeping in the house, my

smartphone was turned off, no

e-mails – I was just drawing. I didn’t

use colours because I can't see them

very well. I did it simply with a black

pen, fine or calligraphic, depending

on my mood, and without any

precise subject or expectation. I

would just draw while thinking

about something else. My hand

is a filter with its own sensibility.

Good things take time.

I have to control it and let it flow,

dance, follow its own way. It's all

about control: the encounter between

control and uncontrollable, as Richard

Avedon said.

Your medium merges illustration

with design. How do you describe it?

Do you see yourself as an artist or

a designer? My favourite role is not

having a specific one. My artwork

is about drawing. My main focus is

design – even though this is less and

less the case. Each field provides a

new way of looking at the other one,

and this nurtures each aspect for me.

Because they are all so very different:

drawing stops on the paper, but paper

is just the beginning of a design.

Drawing is always part of being a

designer. It is the first word – the

starting point – which then develops

into several sentences and eventually

becomes the answers we were looking

for. Then it turns into something

else: from modelling to the final

tangible product.

Drawing is a solitary act. Tell us a little

more about your method. I have no

rituals and work to music or in silence,

day or night; summer or winter. I can

be alone or in the company of others.

I’m really focused on lines and shapes.

I don't use any gum and I am always

prepared for the unexpected. In some

ways, I draw like I ski or skateboard: I

try to catch the perfect line. It rarely

happens on the first attempt, but by

repeating again and again, it suddenly

takes form and expresses all that I

was looking for. It takes time to find

the essence. When I’m drawing, I'm

unequivocally alone; like skiing or

surfing, it all has to come from me.

Regardless of the project or end idea, I

need to trust myself to go with it and

to let it all flow naturally.

What inspires you? Inspiration is

the result of random moments

running through my head and taking

in everything I see. These moments

can be anything: a smell, a sound,

someone I pass in the street, a piece

of fabric, its detail... My influences are

boundless; in photography, surfing,

fashion, skateboarding, gastronomy,

snowboarding, music, travel,

typography, skiing, dance, poetry,

colour and light. They enable me

to express new feelings and suggest

new stories, whatever the scale of

the project.

How long does it take to draw a given

artwork? Drawing doesn't take a

long time. It’s the brainstorming and

preparation that takes time. Finding

the right pose, the perfect light, the

most important aspect of the image

that I have in mind and the perfect tool.

What then appears on the paper is an

entirely different phase of the process.

What do you want people to take

away from your work? Positivity.

If my drawings can help someone

in one way or another, I am

delighted. It’s no longer about art,

but about power, strength and an

appeasement for something good

and important. Creation delivers an

uncommon answer.

Many of your drawing are organic

in form and focus on the female body.

How is your creation of architectural

drawings that have straight, precise

lines different? I grew up in a very

feminine family, with a mother, sisters,

aunts and grandmothers. I draw

women the way they are, not how I

would like them to be. I do draw men,

but women have always been my

main inspiration: their attitude, their

gestures, their poses, their shapes;

from images in magazines or from

seeing them walking in the street. To

me, architecture is also based around

a body, with its own shape, curves or

lines, light and shadows.

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