Whether working in illustration or book design, this Paris-based graphic artist combines energetic compositions with a great eye for detail to create an impressive body of work.
How would you describe your practice?
I'm both a graphic designer and an illustrator. In my work those two fields always influence and enrich each other. The main concern of my work is to dissect, combine and mix emblems, concepts and forms in order to to bring out meaning and poetry. I always grasp for the best way to shape things and I enjoy following the different directions my ideas take, with all their twists and turns, before the answer becomes apparent. I think that my practice is close to that of a craftsman as I begin every project with a piece of paper and a pen in my hand. I consider myself primarily as a storyteller and I'm fascinated by the strength of words and symbols, their ability to arouse one's imagination and their power of evocation. My main interest in terms of design practice is editorial design, where rigorous typographic and compositional rules meet visual and literal storytelling.
What inspires you?
I look around, read, and observe a lot; anything can be a source of inspiration to me. I grew up with books, pictures, stories, family gossip and a Neapolitan background full of iconic and symbolic topics. I’m fond of curious collections, naive art, old fashioned publications and I’m particularly inspired by designers like Bruno Munari, Pierre Faucheux and André Massin.Their contribution for the French Book Club is one of the most impressive pieces of work I’ve ever seen. Authors like John Fante, Charles Bukowski, Italo Calvino are also an endless source of inspiration for me.
Your work for the artists collective La COOPA wonderfully combines your graphic and illustrative abilities, could you tell us a bit more about the project?
La Coopa (Artistic Production Worker's Cooperative) is a French artists collective making art by questioning reality, territory and identity in order to tell stories and underline vanities in social relations, always in an ironic way. I was asked to design their identity and their website, which had been developed by Chloé Bouvarel a couple of years ago and recently we redesigned it entirely. The design, and most particularly the work on the pictograms, aims to echo the cooperative and factory spirit of the collective, and pay tribute to the work of Gerd Arntz's Isotopes.
Do you think working and living in Paris has an influence on your work?
Living in Paris allows me to take advantage of a seemingly infinite choice of exhibitions and cultural events, which also gives me the opportunity to meet a lot of creative and talented people. This city always puts me in a very creative frame of mind: there are plenty of places, bars, secluded parks where I can find inspiration and a particular atmosphere that certainly has an influence on my way of seeing things. But leaving Paris, going to the countryside or abroad, is also a perfect way to find new inspiration.
What have you been working on recently and what’s next?
Recently I began to work on the identity of a space which will open in 2015 in an old Textile Factory in Lyon. It will be an unusual and ambitious project. The space will be somewhere you can find artisanal and local beers, slow food and cultural events. It's a really motivating and engaging brief to work on from conception to production. As to what’s next, I’m convinced that 2015 will be a year full of enticing projects and the right time to develop new ideas, particularly in illustration, with interesting professional collaborators.
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