Laurène Guarneri
MAGAZINE · INTERVIEW

Laurène Guarneri

Laurène Guarneri is a French designer and artisan based in Paris whose practice centers on sculptural mirrors that explore the poetic relationship between light, reflection, and perception. A graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris-Cergy, she founded her studio in 2018, developing handcrafted pieces inspired by fleeting moments of everyday life and the quiet beauty found in nature.

Guided by a minimalist yet deeply sensitive approach, Guarneri creates mirrors that transcend their functional purpose to become contemplative objects. Through refined forms and meticulous craftsmanship, her work captures ephemeral qualities of light, sky, and landscape, inviting a slower, more poetic way of experiencing both the object and the space it inhabits.

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Interview

Where were you born and where are you from?

I was born in Creil, and then I grew up in Senlis, a town in the countryside not far from Paris. Now I have been living in Paris for 7 years.

What is your first memory connected to the art world?

I think it is through reproductions of classical and modern paintings hung in the interiors of my family, Monet, Picasso… They were my experimental subjects for the drawing. Then I remember very well my first outing to contemporary and modern art museums; without knowing what I was seeing, I was quickly moved.

Have you always worked in the art/design field?

From the outset, in school or during the weekend, I drew; I tried to compose. In elementary school, I did comics with my best friend; we were inspired by the characters we saw in video games. In the second grade, I had very generous, available, and interesting art and music teachers. It saved my schooling. Then I went on to high school with an art course option. After the bachelor’s degree, I did a preparatory class to then integrate the fine arts. It was obvious.

What led you to design creation?

The need to feel the materials, to be in a sensory and emotional relationship with the object and what it contains as stories, ideas …

How would you describe your creative process and its influences?

My creative process is at the pace of my life. I never thought of my life in terms of time or area to accomplish. I am quite spontaneous and in the present. I place more and more importance on being in a state of mindfulness and surrounded by good energies. I am in alignment with my actions and thoughts during production and in a good condition. This gives all the meaning to my activity. My influences come from very fleeting moments of life, magical moments of light, the contemplation of scenes, what the sky offers, nature, or the gestures of people. But also through readings, generally poetry, and exhibitions of contemporary art.

Could you describe a typical day of your work?

I take time to get up, with some music and tea. Then I look at my diary. The morning is generally punctuated by my visits to my suppliers, my appointments, reading, and answering emails. I often start my day in the workshop at the beginning of the afternoon to be able to devote this time to my orders and new projects until the evening without fixed hours.

Why did you choose the specific materials you work with?

I could say: I don’t know, but it’s been an obsession since a very young age with glass and mirrors, which produce light effects. Instant fascination, a crush on reflective material. And now I’ll say it’s an almost existential relationship. Glass and mirror have something magical, which adds something to our perception and our relationship to ourselves. It gives us a chance to see what we don’t see, and to see differently. The world is an unfrozen image. I’ve written a lot of prose about it. Talk about these materials for what they really are and what we see of them.

What are the technical particularities of your creations?

Perhaps simplicity in a hard material and seeing material outside of its commonly assigned function.

What advice could you give to beginning artists who would like to create sculptural design works?

Try, keep going, don’t give up. Accept failure and remember the fun.

If your works had to belong to a design movement, how would you define it?

Minimalism, and poetic if there is one.

What contemporary designers do you appreciate?

Constance Guisset, Bourroulec, Vicenzo de Cotiis – Forever studio –

What contemporary artists, in any kind of art, have you been inspired by?

James Turrell – Larry Bell – Olafur Eliasson – Guy Mees – Marie Cool et Fabio Balducci –

If you had to summarize your creations in one word or sentence, what would it be?

Poetic

“Glass and mirror have something magical, which adds something to our perception and our relationship to ourselves.”

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?

No time. View of the sea, the sun, a good meal with the people I love and my workshop nearby.

What is your greatest fear?

Lose my senses.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

Expect a lot from certain things. My Requirement.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?

Wickednes.

Which living person do you most admire?

My father.

What is your greatest extravagance?

I can talk about a lot of subjects without being complex.

What is your current state of mind?

Excited about my day.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

Arrogance.

What is the quality you most like in a man?

Passion.

What is the quality you most like in a woman?

Passion.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

You have to feel things. Have no regrets!

Which talent would you most like to have?

To have a great, perfect memory.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Doubtless.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Life choice.

If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?

To be a raptor, an eagle to fly and be alone and calm in the air and be unhooked from the ground.

Where would you most like to live?

Quiet, in a house with the sea and the mountain nearby, with animals and the sun.

What is your most treasured possession?

Family, Friends and my cat Arrow.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

Unhealthy stupidity.

What is your favorite occupation?

Eat?

What is your most marked characteristic?

Enterprising, attentive, motivated.

What do you most value in your friends?

Their creativity, their way of seeing the world, their differences.

Who are your favorite writers?

Pessoa, Jean Cocteau, Paul Eluard, Albert Camus.

Who is your hero of fiction?

Don’t know, no one.

Which historical figure do you most identify with?

Who are your heroes in real life?

Heroes last a while for some aspects. Lots of people without renown, with beliefs common to mine, but who have more courage than me, who fight more, who educate me. That I know or not at all.

What are your favorite names?

Lio, or a name that I will have invented.

What is it that you most dislike?

Racism, machismo, stupidity, arrogance.

What is your greatest regret?

For not having said, I love you, to someone when it was possible.

How would you like to die?

At peace with my soul and my body.

What is your motto?

Live for ourselves and happy.

“My influences come from very fleeting moments of life, magical moments of light, the contemplation of scenes, what the sky offers, nature…”

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