I was born and raised in Paris, then I studied at the National Applied Art School of Strasbourg (HEAR) and at the Design Academy of Eindhoven (NL).
MAGAZINE · INTERVIEW
Roxane Lahidji
Roxane Lahidji is a French designer based in Brussels whose practice explores the intersection of material research, sustainability, and collectible design. Trained at the Design Academy Eindhoven after earlier studies in illustration and product design, she develops experimental objects and surfaces through an alchemical approach that transforms overlooked natural resources into sculptural forms. Her work investigates how ecological innovation, traditional craftsmanship, and material experimentation can redefine contemporary luxury.
Working across furniture, objects, and material development, Lahidji creates collectible pieces distinguished by their tactile surfaces and geological character. Combining self-developed techniques with low-tech production methods and renewable materials, she blurs the boundaries between design, sculpture, and environmental research, revealing the hidden beauty and expressive potential of humble matter.
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Interview
Where were you born and where are you from?
What is your first memory connected to the art world?
Most probably the Enki Bilal posters we had everywhere in the house … but I was drawing from a very young age and reading a lot of comics.
Have you always worked in the art/design field?
Yes.
What led you to design creation?
I like the broadness of design. What does the term “design” even mean? Its significance changes with every personality and opinion. However, I would state that the vast majority defines design as a work of applied arts, meaning a creation having a functional purpose. That is the comforting side of design: you are not alone with the terrifying mirror of your creation, which you are expressing within a context; there are walls defining your path. On the other side, you need to justify this creation in order to spread it. It forces a positioning, hence a certain level of critical thinking. I like the broadness of design. Since I was a child, I’ve been self-training in many different fields (fashion, illustration, food design, products, etc.) and always decided, after reaching a sort of comfort zone, to switch to something else, in order to keep on learning, failing, improving, and being stimulated. Design is a sort of school of life for me; it is both very grounding and imaginative in all aspects.
How would you describe your creative process and its influences?
I am most likely starting with material research and development: What is the material? What is it made of? What is the composition and properties? How is it usually processed and to what end? Once I’ve reached interesting results, I try to establish an intellectual connection with it, meaning a social and philosophical significance in order to evaluate what kind of impact this project could have: Where does it come from? Who is extracting and processing it? Is it expensive? Why? etc. Those last questions, combined with the previous technical experiences, help me find a storytelling, define a function and a final shaping ( which usually evolves a lot throughout the last development phase). I would describe my design practice as a mix of alchemy, sculpture, philosophy, and sociology.
Could you describe a typical day of your work?
I need to be physically active all day long in order to get my thoughts and ideas running. During the time I spend in public transport (subway/train), I usually do my emails. I arrive at the studio around 9:30 am, starting by switching the machines on and looking at the to-do list I update every other day. Then I work on my pieces: I empty my moulds if the time has come and fill them up again, I polish the pieces already in process, etc., and in between I usually develop other experimentations (last year was weaving and heat pressing leather leftovers, this year is about growing crystals on different types of textiles). My days are usually 8 hours long, sometimes more. At night I work on sketches, cost estimations for new projects, editing pictures, updating my website, etc. I rarely have a redundant routine, everyday is different.
Why did you choose the specific materials you work with?
I like the idea of common and universal materials processed and shaped into a unique result. I choose versatile and adaptable materials, allowing a certain amount of randomness in the process and enabling a completely unrecognisable look. As for the marbled salts, I can make anything I want, given the conditions that somebody wants me to do it. It deeply helps me to understand my strengths and weaknesses, my fascination and my boredom as a creator, where I can add relevance and where I shouldn’t go.
What are the technical particularities of your creations?
The transformation of matter is visible through the pattern and the texture. I like oval shapes, subtle curves, and contrasts of colours and finishes.
What advice could you give to beginning artists who would like to create sculptural design works?
Find the right mentor(s): which opinions do you actually care for, which advice is constructive to feed and manage your creative flow, but most importantly to your personal development and overall well-being. Question those advices and acknowledge its influence on your consciousness and choices. Then learn from your mentor(s), practice again, again and again, until you master a technique, then choose what you find unique in this technique (or what is unique in the way you are exercising it), create an artwork. Take some distance, find what’s missing, go looking for it, seek your mentor’s feedback, and start another cycle: practice again and again and again.
Accept and embrace the fact that nothing is yours, nor was it invented or discovered by yourself. Your personality and work’s uniqueness reside in the mix of influences, inspirations, and experiences you chose and gathered yourself. Believe in this blend and be as self-critical as you realistically can.
Is there anything you would like to add?
This interview was very interesting. I am curious to read what will come out of it!
If your works had to belong to a design movement, how would you define it?
The wave of biomimicry.
What designers and artists have influenced you?
Joris Laarman, Issey Miyake, Tokujin Yoshioka, Aldo Bakker, Fernando Mastrangelo, Matthieu Lehanneur…
What contemporary designers do you appreciate?
All the ones previously mentioned, yet also India Madhavi, the Bouroullec brothers, Os and Oos, Forma Fantasma, Nadja Zerunian, Faye TooGood, Olivier Van Herpt, Vincenzo De Cotiis, Llewellyn Chupin, etc.
What contemporary artists, in any kind of art, have you been inspired by?
Not necessarily contemporary: (Comics) Moebius, E. Bilal, H. Miyazaki (Sculpture) A. Kapoor, Michelangelo, T. Cragg, Brancusi, I. Noguchi, G. Pennone (Painting) L. Da Vinci, Il Caravaggio, Vermer, Hokusai, Yves Klein (Photography) Yann Arthus Bertrand, Sebastião Salgado, Benjamin Everett…
If you had to summarize your creations in one word or sentence, what would it be?
I want to reproduce the look of extremely valuable and natural materials with commonly cheap ones or even waste.
“Design is a sort of school of life for me; it is both very grounding and imaginative in all aspects.”
The Questionnaire
The Questions
(The Proust Questionnaire is a set of questions answered by the French writer Marcel Proust.
Other historical figures who have answered confession albums are Oscar Wilde,
Karl Marx, Arthur Conan Doyle, Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Cézanne…)
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
A river going down a mountain in the sun
What is your greatest fear?
Fear
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Narcissism
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Cowardliness, and the dishonest hypocrisy going along with it
Which living person do you most admire?
My four parents
What is your greatest extravagance?
My current project
What is your current state of mind?
Breathe
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Eloquence… and perhaps smartness
What is the quality you most like in a man?
Wisdom and open-mindedness
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Wisdom and open-mindedness
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
Value, consciousness, perception, subjectivity
Which talent would you most like to have?
Being multi lingual (speaking fluently at least 5 or 6 languages)
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
My past… or my size
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
My philosophy of life, and my flexibility
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
An eagle
Where would you most like to live?
In a sharp mountain over the sea, in the Mediterranean region
What is your most treasured possession?
A golden locket from Iran with the libra sign, the sun on one side and the moon on the other, given by my father’s grand mother. A silver bracelet from Syria given by my mother’s grand mother
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Undesired/unchosen loneliness
What is your favorite occupation?
Thinking. Most likely walking while listening to music
What is your most marked characteristic?
Independence and the will to be
What do you most value in your friends?
Tolerance and critical thinking
Who are your favorite writers?
Hard question since I am more of a book person than an author person, and some of my favourite books are not literature for say, but rather Philosophical thoughts, socio economical researchs, anthropological study cases, political essays etc. However I could quote a couple writers as Isaac Asimov, Murakami, Tolkien, Camus, Kafka, Dostoyevsky, Paul Coelho, Edgard Allan Poe, Robert Desnos etc
Who is your hero of fiction?
Yoda
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Nefertiti
Who are your heroes in real life?
Quite classical: M. Luther King, Gandhi, Noam Chomsky, Edward Snowden etc. And my parents
What are your favorite names?
Naora, Sharam, Sheyda, Willem, William, Sarah, Adam, Gabrielle, Emma, Giuseppe, Kendra, Tsukasa, Shen…
What is it that you most dislike?
Gravity
What is your greatest regret?
Hiding love
How would you like to die?
From aging. But not too late
What is your motto?
It’s just a dream
“Believe in this blend and be as self-critical as you realistically can.”
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