1. Where were you born and where are you from ?

I was born in Ste-Hyacinthe, which is an hour from Montreal. We then moved to Sherbrooke, where I grew up.

2. What is your first memory connected to the art world ?

My first memory is from the artworks that were displayed in my childhood house.
My family had an arts and crafts material business, so I was always surrounded by it at home.

3. Have you always worked in the art/design field ?

Yes.

4. What led you to the design creation ?

To push my vision of design.
It brought together many of my skills, either from the visual arts media profile, welding, metal study, and even the fashion and beauty scene.
Also, I’ve always had a fascination for the light.

5. How would you describe your creative process and it influences ?

I have instinctive flashes associated with sleep. They come either in the morning when I am waking up or at bedtime.
Then I like to jump into the study of a process or material, to then integrate it into a design.
It helps me decontextualize the material to make sure to be able to reintegrate it.
The training phase brings me to the creation one.
From the lamp models created for d’Armes, I learned the arts of enameling, bending neon, glass and metal treatments.
When the medium is assimilated and integrated into the design, I want to make sure that the form and the ambiance of the object emanates into a feeling.
My influences can be summed up as driven by curiosity, instinct, love, the desire to know and the need to not repeat.

6. Could you describe a typical day of your work ?

No two workdays are alike. No repetition. No typical day.

7. Why did you choose the specific materials you work with ?

Raw materials, as little paint, varnish, coatings and plastics as possible.
I need to feel the initial material, without artifice, eliminating all superfluous details.
The Chromatic finish was chosen mainly to work with light in a distinctive way.

8. What are the technical particularities of your creations ?

To be working with different artisans. Collaborating in co-design. Having fun exploring limits. It allows us to test the limits of materials, from size to the limits of technique.
For example, the length of neon or glass tubing.
I’m fascinated by the apparent but not technical simplicity.
To eliminate all the unnecessary details and just keep the essentials.

9. What advices could you give to beginning artists who would like to create sculptural design works ?

Focus on one idea and a concept and push it to the limit before mixing everything up.
Work and rework it until the feeling of completion arrives.
Don’t try to combine too many things.
Don’t forget the opposite of your ideas. Don’t set aside opposition.
For example, if you’re working on a big, raw design, don’t forget to explore its opposite, the fine and delicate.
Contradict yourself.

10. If your works had to belong to a design movement, in which one would you define it ?

Timelessness.
Not attaching a time or place.
Saying I’m attached to a movement goes against the point.
But if I really had to name anything, I’d say that in Montreal, we’re very attached to Expo 67 and the Space Age and the Cavernes de Vilains in the movies. The 60s, luxury.

11. What designers have influenced you ?

Max Lamb, from the Soft Baroque.

12. What contemporary designers do you appreciate ?

Mathieu Lehanneur.

13. What contemporary artists (in any kind of art) have you been inspired by ?

Tala Madani and Brecht Wright Gander.

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

Presence
Human scale

15. Is there anything you would like to add ?

Creation is a team effort.
As head designer, you hold the creative thread together so that it stays as faithful as possible.

Proust Questionnaire with very short answers (one or a few words) :
(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…)