Désirée de Lamarzelle: What is the role of the creative director of the French Pavilion?

José Lévy: It involves looking beyond the permanent exhibition to showcase today's France in all its cultural diversity, with a representation of its culture that is both historical and emblematic, but also gives pride of place to art, design and decoration.

Désirée de Lamarzelle: How would you define your scope of action?

J.L.: I assist the French Pavilion teams in designing public spaces, such as the protocol rooms. My work naturally involves dialogue with Thomas Coldefy, the pavilion's architect, as well as with the group in charge of the permanent exhibition. The use of certain colours and materials is one of the points we discuss together, with the common goal of creating the French pavilion.

Désirée de Lamarzelle: Is it a tribute to French decorative arts?

J.L.: Through my collaborations with cultural institutions and major companies (the Manufacture de Sèvres, the Saint-Louis crystal factory, Hermès, the Tools galleries, Astier de Villatte, Roche-Bobois, Diptyque, etc.), I have had the opportunity to reflect extensively on the decorative arts and to contribute to them. The idea is to seize the tremendous opportunity presented by this event, which will attract 28 million visitors, to showcase our strengths. This involves curating pieces by French decorative arts designers who embody this exciting French artistic scene.

Désirée de Lamarzelle: Do you enjoy revisiting traditional skills?

J.L.: I love craftsmanship, and the history of French decorative arts is extremely rich. But we mustn't treat this craftsmanship of excellence as sacred. In the same way that modernising things does not mean erasing them in an excess of minimalism. It is this desire to preserve the balance between the old and the modern that drives me when I collaborate with a company such as Manufacture de Sèvres, for example.

Désirée de Lamarzelle: How does this thinking translate?

J.L.: Through work on timelessness and the transmission of know-how. But that doesn't exclude the dialogue I can have with brands, galleries... It's very important that collaboration is not a one-way street. I always try to understand who I'm going to be working with and what the final destination of the object will be. I find it presumptuous enough, in an overloaded world, to want to create another object.

Désirée de Lamarzelle: What connection do you have with Japan?

J.L.: I have a long history with Japan, through my grandfather, who was a collector of Japanese art and owned a company that manufactured tatami mats, kimonos and bokken [Japanese wooden swords], but also through the Villa Kujoyama, where I was a resident.

Désirée de Lamarzelle: It is a very prestigious artist residency.

J.L.: It was a great honour. Villa Kujoyama in Kyoto, which is a magnificent place run by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, invited me in 2011. It was the first time I had tried my hand at creating as a visual artist, even though I had always had a very open approach to my profession (architectural designer, stylist). This residency, where I spent five months, was an artistic turning point: I began to incorporate Japan into many of my projects. I returned a few years later to design the set for the villa's reopening party, which I plunged into total darkness, lighting it only with 500 candles designed with Diptyque; I also created a huge nebuta, a 7-metre-high lantern, with the Kyoto University of Traditional Arts. There are many bridges between France and Japan, between my past and present.

Désirée de Lamarzelle: Would you say you are a voracious creator?

J.L.: I prefer to say voracious. I started out in fashion, working in many different artistic directions (Holland & Holland, Nina Ricci, Cacharel and Emanuel Ungaro), but I wanted to branch out into the visual arts, decorative arts, design and photography. That's what I do today.

Désirée de Lamarzelle: Who is the latest artist to have caught your eye?

J.L.: Lionel Estève, a very talented visual artist, and recently I discovered a collection of monumental sculptures by Max Ernst, exhibited at Brafa. They are replicas of bronze sculptures, like totems, which he had in his garden. They are absolutely magnificent.

Désirée de Lamarzelle: And what about fashion in all this?

J.L.: I no longer work in fashion, but I design the costumes for Arthur Nauzyciel's plays. He is the director of the TNB (Théâtre National de Bretagne). It's the opposite of fashion because when you design clothes, you think about how they will be worn in real life, whereas for the stage, I create for a character who doesn't exist in reality, knowing that the clothes will be worn by a specific body. I have to design 120 costumes for Jean Genet's play Les Paravents, which will be performed from 31 May at the Théâtre de l'Europe-Odéon.

Article from issue 7 of Oniriq magazine by Désirée de Lamarzelle

Translated by Bethszabee Garner