Marlene Huissoud_2024_01Credits_Pierre Malherbet
© Pierre Malherbet
MAGAZINE · INTERVIEW

Marlène Huissoud

Marlène Huissoud is a French experimental designer and artist whose practice explores the relationship between material research, ecology, and contemporary craft. A graduate of Central Saint Martins’ MA Material Futures, she gained international recognition through From Insects, a pioneering project investigating alternative materials derived from honeybees and silkworms. Inspired by her upbringing in the French Alps, Huissoud develops collectible furniture, objects, and sculpture that reveal the creative potential of the natural world.

Through unconventional materials and close collaboration with artisans and researchers, Huissoud challenges conventional production methods while encouraging a more conscious relationship with nature. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Centre Pompidou, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, and Design Miami, and is held in major public collections.

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Interview

Where were you born and where are you from?

I was born in the French Alps, a perfect landscape between mountains and lakes.

What is your first memory connected to the art world?

The fear of knowing I was an artist and that I had no choice but to follow this path.

Have you always worked in the art/design field?

I had to decide what to do with my life at 16, and I was very afraid of the art world. I went to nursing school because I wanted to work in a psychiatric hospital, but I quit after eight months. Art was calling me!

What led you to design creation?

I had something to say, and I needed to get it out there.

How would you describe your creative process and its influences?

Hands-on, very intuitive, obsessional, meditative, exciting, natural, imperfect, authentic, bizarre.

Could you describe a typical day of your work?

Never the same. But the first thing is to warm up the studio with the oven in winter. Then coffee. Another coffee. Then interviews, emails, and meetings. And in the afternoon, we create; we get our hands dirty.

Why did you choose the specific materials you work with?

The materials are most of the time choosing me.

  • Marlene Huissoud – Mama 1 Credits Sferik Museum scaled
    MAMA I © Sferik Museum
  • VA Cocoon Bench Studio Marlene Huissoud scaled
    V&A, Cocoon Bench © Pierre Malherbet
What are the technical particularities of your creations?

We create one off piece, so everything is made at the atelier during hours, hours, hours of obsessional repetitive gestures.

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

Ask yourself why your art needs to exist in this world. And stand for yourself on everything you do; do not look at other people’s work. Find your legacy. Don’t be scared of failure.

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

My own cocoon.

What designers and artists have influenced you?

I have a lot of admiration for artists, always admired Niki de Saint Phalle, Louise Bourgeois, and Yayoi Kusama.

What contemporary designers do you appreciate?

I’m mostly inspired by artists.

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

I’m fascinated by outsider art.

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

Inter Species.

Is there anything you would like to add?

I’m so happy to be able to create everything I do with so much freedom. I feel very lucky.

“Ask yourself why your art needs to exist in this world. Stand for yourself in everything you do, and don’t look at other people’s work. Find your legacy. Don’t be scared of failure.”

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?

Being with the people I love.

What is your greatest fear?

Losing the people I love.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

I have learned not to deplore myself.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?

Extreme Narcissism.

Which living person do you most admire?

My father.

What is your greatest extravagance?

My jokes.

What is your current state of mind?

Love always wins.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

Obedience.

What is the quality you most like in a man?

Loyalty.

What is the quality you most like in a woman?

Loyalty.

  • SWORM Marlene Huissoud Credits Helene Combal Weiss scaled
    SWORM © Hélène Combal-Weiss
  • Cocoon Light1 Credits Studio Marlene Huissoud scaled
    Cocoon Light I © Studio Marlène Huissoud
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

Let’s play.

Which talent would you most like to have?

Creating a new language to talk with insects.

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

Nothing. I was born this way.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

My daughter.

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

A bee.

Where would you most like to live?

Where I’m now.

What is your most treasured possession?

My books and art pieces are from the people I love.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

Arrogance.

What is your favorite occupation?

Reading, drawing, dreaming.

What is your most marked characteristic?

Authenticity.

What do you most value in your friends?

Authenticity.

Who are your favorite writers?

Henri Michaux, Bell Hooks, Baptiste Morizot…

Who is your hero of fiction?

Maya l’abeille.

Which historical figure do you most identify with?

No one.

Who are your heroes in real life?

My daughter and my father.

What are your favorite names?

Lil Bee, the second and third names of my daughter.

What is it that you most dislike?

Fake people.

What is your greatest regret?

Not saying a proper ‘I Love you’ to people I have lost.

How would you like to die?

I don’t want to die yet.

What is your motto?

Spreading Love.

  • Beehave Marlene Huissoud Sir Ian Blatchford Science Museum red oak AHEC Petr Krecji 2
    Beehave, Sir Ian Blatchford (Science Museum), Red Oak, AHEC © Petr Krejčí

“The materials are most of the time choosing me.”

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