Mydriaz
Mydriaz is a Paris-based design studio founded in 2011 by artist duo Jennifer Midoz and Malo du Bouëtiez. Working at the intersection of art, design, and craftsmanship, the studio creates collectible furniture and lighting distinguished by a refined exploration of materiality, perception, and colour. Each piece is conceived and handcrafted in their workshop beneath the Viaduc des Arts, where experimentation and artisanal techniques shape objects that balance sculptural expression with functional design.
Through an ongoing investigation of reflective surfaces, light, and the narrative potential of materials, Mydriaz develops a distinctive body of work that is both contemporary and timeless. Their creations have attracted international collectors, interior designers, and luxury maisons, while collaborations with institutions such as the Mobilier National further affirm the studio’s contribution to contemporary French design.
Interview
Jennifer: I was born in eastern Paris and spent my childhood and adolescence there. I moved to Paris when I was 20 and have lived there ever since.
Malo: Paris, France.
Jennifer: I was eight years old. I was going to the conservatory to take drawing lessons. The first lesson had as its subject a still life entirely composed of stuffed animals. And I found it great to draw stuffed animals.
Malo: My grandfather’s watercolors.
Jennifer: Always yes. As soon as I knew that we could live on it!
Malo: Yes, since I was a student at the Fine Arts School of Paris (ENSBA).
Jennifer: I discovered the world of Design at the Boulle school. Previously, I was aware that any object could be drawn, but I became fully aware of the reflection around the object when I joined the school workshops. I was 16 and a new world was opening up to me.
Malo: The need for those creations to be brought to life.
Jennifer: I am influenced by materials. They are the ones that will guide me towards the object that I am going to draw. I never start from a desire for objects, but rather from a fabric, a color, a shape that gives me the idea of the furniture or the lighting that I am going to create.
Malo: Instinctive, intuitive, directly inspired by the matter.
Jennifer: The days are quite different because our work as designers is very versatile (between drawing, material research, design, production management in the workshop, etc.), but it’s important to me to always finish my day through creative research, in drawing or on matter.
Malo: Coffee, cigarette, reflection about the ongoing projects and the future ones, making it happen.
Jennifer: At the Boulle school, I was trained in metalwork, more particularly in brass. This material never left me. Metal is difficult to understand; it’s easier to get closer to wood or ceramics when you start working with your hands. I believe that this instinctive disenchantment pushed me to dig and discover metal. Today, we have no more secrets for each other, and each time I realize it, I find it very beautiful.
Malo: Brass offers an infinity of shapes and finishes. It’s both a structural and a noble material which plays delightfully with the light.
Jennifer: I work on instinct and with respect for the material. It is the material that guides me. A forced material is a material that suffers. In my creations, it guides me, and I listen to it.
Malo: The finishes we create, the ability to adjust from what is not perfect, the mastery of randomness.
Jennifer: Don’t be afraid, follow your instinct, surprise us!
Malo: Patience, self-denegation, self-confidence, and originality are key to success. Do not let yourself be influenced.
Jennifer: Impression.
Malo: Once there, you may see that it had to exist.
Jennifer: –
Malo: An Inappropriate joke, but it would be inappropriate.
Jennifer: We take part in this new wave of “maker” designers; our work is between design and contemporary art. We draw pieces, and we also produce them; this process is very different in the approach to object drawing.
Malo: Art nouveau, art déco, surrealism, minimalism, post-modern, abstract… Designers/makers, depending on pieces.
Jennifer: Charlotte Perriand is for me a model. She influenced me in the simple gesture. She was aware of the material AND the use of the object. One feels in his work a rare generosity and a real sociological approach. Her work is complete. There is also Anni Albers, who, in her creative process, taught me to build and deconstruct to find a good technique, the formula that will make sense.
Malo: The great architects.
Jennifer: I love the work of Vincenzo De Cotiis. When I look at his creations, I can’t tell the difference between mirror and metal, metal and stone; one might think that everything is in one block and comes from another planet. His pieces are magic.
Malo: Jennifer Midoz, Laura Gonzales, Pierre Yovanovitch, Patricia Urquiola, Martino Gamper.
Jennifer: Eva Jospin’s work is extraordinary. Its forest and cathedral landscapes are breathtakingly beautiful, and its material is quite simply cardboard! His work is a mixture of disorder and total plenitude.
Malo: Olafur Eliasson, Giuseppe Penone, François Morellet, Myasaki, Peng Yu and Sun Yuan, Tony Brown, Michal Rovner, Sue Webster and Tim Noble.
“The material guides me, and I listen to it. A forced material is a material that suffers.”
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…)
Jennifer: A workshop by the sea
Malo: A book, a hammock under the trees on a sunny day
Jennifer: Boredom
Malo: Loosing my hands
Jennifer: Impatience
Malo: My lack of sleep
Jennifer: Stupidity
Malo: Dishonesty
Jennifer: Christiane Taubira
Malo: Jennifer Midoz
Jennifer: My imitation of the sound of a rag on a window
Malo: Writing a 130-page book about nothing
Jennifer: In research
Malo: Serene, yet tired but serene
Jennifer: Patience
Malo: La chasteté
Jennifer: Humility
Malo: Humility
Jennifer: Pugnacity
Malo: Determination
Jennifer: However
Malo: Pfff….
Jennifer: How to draw a perfect circle
Malo: To speak every language
Jennifer: My eyes color
Malo: The ability to learn every language
Jennifer: Have read La Recherche
Malo: My life so far
Jennifer: Mona Lisa
Malo: A tree by the river
Jennifer: In the desert for the silence
Malo: I live in Paris…
Jennifer: Creativity
Malo: A house I bought with some friends in the countryside
Jennifer: Human stupidity
Malo: Despair
Jennifer: Going to my Shrink
Malo: Thinking
Jennifer: I know all breeds of dogs
Malo: Patience
Jennifer: Fidelity
Malo: Empathy
Jennifer: Marcel Proust
Malo: Zweig, Maalouf, Artaud, Camus, Steinbeck, Ellul
Jennifer: Mrs Dalloway
Malo: Dedalus
Jennifer: An amazon
Malo: Erasmus
Jennifer: My dog
Malo: The team I work with
Jennifer: Tiger
Malo: Fiona
Jennifer: Bad faith
Malo: The smell of somebody else’s vomit
Jennifer: I don’t have any
Malo: Not being able to say goodbye to my grandmother
Jennifer: Sur scène
Malo: With the feeling of well accomplished job
Jennifer: Non est mortale quod opto
Malo: « I have dreams »
“I never start from a desire for objects, but rather from a fabric, a color, a shape that gives me the idea of the furniture or the lighting that I am going to create.”
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