DUCHATEL MEETS THE DESIGNERS

At its event with different creators such as Rabih Kayrouz, Alexandra Senes, Lyne Fromiga, Nicolas Ouchenir, Alice Balas, DUCHATEL has taken the opportunity to interview each one of them.

Meeting with Lyne Fromiga

HELLO LYNE, WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR INSPIRATION ?

I am inspired by artists such as Picasso and Cocteau, whom I have admired for many years. But I am also passionate about Japan. When I returned from my first trip to Japan, I started to create Japanese drawings. They translate into pure curves echoing both Biarritz and the Basque coast. Today, my most famous drawing is 10 years old! It is the "Basque face".

At the beginning, the curves of this face were more rounded and some time later my husband suggested me to give it a more "Art Deco" touch. That's when I decided to refine this face in a more geometric way. The second drawing in this universe is the bathers.

I created the bathers exclusively with Fabrice (artistic director of DUCHATEL). It is through this collaboration with DUCHATEL that this drawing marked year 30 at the same time inspired by Cocteau and the Basque faces that the bathers were born.

Finally, there is "the red mouths" this drawing comes straight from my imagination! The inspiration for the "red mouths" came to me after a trip to Japan. Just like this East Asian country, I find them both modern and ancestral. These red mouths are also a tribute to the famous "geishas" with their porcelain complexion and their bloody mouth.

WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO DO THIS JOB?

It comes from my grandparents without any hesitation! My grandmother was a painter as well as my grandfather. In our family, we are very artistic ! As far as I am concerned, I am self-taught, I did not go to school nor did I take any courses except for some technical courses for porcelain.

Lyne Fromiga for DUCHATEL

WHAT IS YOUR BACKGROUND IN A FEW WORDS?

My career path is very particular... I first started painting on wood for object brands, decoration for children. Then I went from wood to glass for goldsmiths to finally paint on porcelain. I found porcelain the little one, something that I can't find on the other supports I could paint on before. Painting on porcelain is more like a canvas, a work of art, and I find that it brings the painting to the forefront more.

One of my first major accomplishments that played a major role in my career as an artist was a collaboration with the grand hotel Maria Cristina in San Sebastian, Spain. It was thanks to the starred chef, Hélène Darroze, who commissioned me to create a whole set of plates for her restaurant. In a way, this collaboration allowed me to be known and offered me visibility. I also collaborated with her for her second restaurant in Paris called "Joi".

When I create my plates, I don't think about the object's primary use, which is to hold food or as a table service. I create my plate by seeing it exposed as a canvas, I move away more and more from the functional to tend towards the work of art

WHAT DOES BIARRITZ CITY INSPIRES YOU?

This city is a wind of freedom because of its landscapes, the ocean, as well as for its smells like iodine. Biarritz also emanates an artistic atmosphere Picasso, Cocteau or the art deco movement.

WHAT ARE THE EVERYDAY THINGS THAT MAKE YOU HAPPY?

I believe that the moments when I feel this fullness of happiness are at what I find myself in my workshop, in my bubble. But there is no equal to the happiness that I feel when I find myself with the people I love my family, my relatives, my friends and my dogs. I find that there is nothing more pleasant than feeling and sending back positive waves to the people who love you.

"I think there is nothing more pleasant than feeling and sending back positive waves to the people who love you."

DUCHATEL & KILOMETRE GO TO TABLE WITH THEIR FRIENDS ....

THE EVENTS

As part of its "Kilometre tour" Alexandra Senes and DUCHATEL have brought together various designers such as the fashion designer Rhabi Kayrouz, the calligrapher Nicolas Ouchenir, the designer Alice Balas or the artist Lyne Fromiga.

On Saturday, June 12, all the designers met at DUCHATEL. During this day, they were able to present their collaborations that allowed them to bring together their different worlds in order to share their love for art and fashion with the aim of creating unique and timeless pieces.

Collaboration Exclusive

Nicolac Ouchenir X Lyne Fromiga For DUCHATEL

Lyne Fromiga is a painter on porcelain. We recognize her work through her pure and timeless lines through the black and white predominate her works and these touches of color that come joyfully brighten her creations as by surprise.

BETWEEN PORCELAIN,

PAINTING AND CALLIGRAPHY ...

Lyne collaborated with calligrapher Nicolas Ouchenir to create plates, vases and dishes with refined designs and poetic messages. Nicolas Ouchenir's writing delicately rests on the monologue of lines and colors painted by Lyne Fromiga. The words chosen by Nicolas Ouchenir inspire travel, love, poetry and more than ever life. The plates are hand painted by Lyne Fromiga and calligraphied by Nicolas Ouchenir. These works are in limited edition and numbered, they are unique.

Collaboration Nicolac Ouchenir X Alexandra Senec

Alexandra Senes, the designer whose simple stories are an invitation to travel and share, but also and especially the director of the brand Kilomètre Paris. The brand offers collections hand-embroidered by Mexican and Indian artisans. Each piece is unique, inspired by a place, a memory or an excursion. Nicolas Ouchenir the calligrapher as sunny as talented to collaborate with the designer Alexandra Senes. The fruit of this collaboration is a white linen shirt, from old sheets mottled signed Kilomètre Paris entirely hand embroidered from drawings made by Nicolas Ouchenir.

KILOMETRE TO TANGER... ...

Like a poem written in black and white, this white linen shirt is inked with history. This time, it is not the delicate pen of Nicolas Ouchenir that illustrates a work, but embroideries made in collaboration with the brand Kilometre.

These embroideries transcribe the memories echoing the immutable memories that Nicolas Ouchenir maintains for Tangier. The destination of Tangier is a particular choice, because Nicolas has been coming and going there since his childhood. It is for him the city of all poets, an inspiring city at the same time violent and feverish.

We find embroidered his grandfather in gelaba, the market place, camels walking on the beach of Briech that separates the ocean from the Mediterranean. Ink stains as a reminder of his passion. A portrait of his grandmother with her piercing Kabyle Berber gaze, bathers in burka on the family beach of Briech or a tribute to a woman "Galopine" dancing barefoot on the beach.

Collaboration Kilometre Paric x Alice Balac

Designer, but above all entrepreneur Alice Balas has managed to create a quiet place for herself in the world of fashion. With her eponymous brand, Alice Balas offers a new and elegant vision of the perfecto. She imagines it in a multitude of the finest leathers in unique shades of color and has it made in her Parisian workshop.

The Perfect

The fruit of this collaboration is a perfecto made with the brand Kilometre Paris. Two women entrepreneurs from different worlds put together their knowledge for a unique leather perfecto embroidered with history. This perfecto of rider, dreamer is entirely embroidered on the back of a real postcard landscape. We see Alice and Alexandra "in bike mode" both astride the same motorcycle, a sign signed A&A with their initials written on a mountainous road in Los Angeles or the ocean ...

MEETING WITH THE CREATOR RABIH KAYROUZ

""I am rich, immeasurably rich in what almost everyone lacks: time."

From Paric to Beirut

Born in Lebanon, Rabih Kayrouz arrived in France at the age of 16 to study in Paris. After graduating from the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture in 1994, Rabih Kayrouz did his first internships at Dior and Chanel. Captivated by the soul of his country in reconstruction, he decided to return to Lebanon to create wedding dresses first for his friends and then expanded his production for new customers. In 1998, he founded the House of Rabih Kayrouz where for ten years, he offers unique pieces reserved for women. In 2009, he returned to Paris and set up his workshop at 38 Boulevard Raspail. For the anecdote this address was 50 years ago the "Petit Théatre de Babylone".

Luxury according to Rabih

His definition of luxury is a quote from Philippe Delerm, it resembles him deeply: "I am rich, immeasurably rich of what almost everyone lacks: time. Dividing his time between Paris and Beirut, he sees his fashion as "a bridge between these two cultures". He mixes oriental clothes and the way they envelop the body like abayas, caftans, Arab tunics and the way they rest on the shoulders". There is also the more Parisian Western clothing that is more tailored on the body and not just on the shoulder. His style illustrates this contrast.

Architecture, Couture, and Creation

A true architect of clothing, Rabih Kayrouz builds the garment directly on a fixed mannequin. The choice of fabric plays a fundamental role in the design of the garment. It is in particular thanks to its fall and its movement that the clothing takes shape according to the curves of the silhouette. It is in this that we recognize the work of Rabih Kayrouz, when the fabric is almost enough to itself. His style is not in the "simplicity" but it is in the "purity" with a constant approach to detail.

When we observe a piece of Rabih Kayrouz that it is during a fashion show where we can observe the clothes in movement, coming to play with the curves of the models ..., or more simply on a fixed mannequin or we admire this time the work, the game of construction of the creator almost origami, architecture. We wonder then where his passion comes from? What are his sources of inspiration?... During his event DUCHATEL had invited the designer Rabih Kayrouz to sit down at Gaztelur. Unfortunately, the designer could not join us, but it is with great generosity that Rabih Kayrouz agreed to answer our questions.

Where do you draw your inspiration from?

Women inspire me first after all I make these clothes to seduce them

And then the nature fascinates me the clouds the Light the trees I find there forms of the silhouette of the constructions... .

Today the inspiration comes to me from what I call the "first gesture". I like to create clothes that stand up, starting directly the clothes by putting the fabric on the body. I don't make drawings, hence my "architectural" style; I see my clothes as constructions, made to be worn.

What made you want to do this job?

The love of clothes, I always knew I wanted to be a fashion designer. At the age of 12, I was asked what I would like to do and without hesitation, I answered: "Fashion designer".

What makes me want to do it is the know-how. For me, sewing is not a "lifestyle" but a skill.

It is the difference that makes me want to do this job. I create by passion, by instinct, for my women and not for the "show".

Your journey in a few words?

After spending my childhood in the Lebanese mountains and attending a French school, I left for Paris where I entered the Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne. Then I did internships in major fashion houses (Chanel, Dior...). In 1995, I took part in an exhibition, the Salon des Artistes Décorateurs, in Lebanon. It was the first time I discovered Beirut and I decided to stay there, in order to participate in the reconstruction of my country and I set up my own Haute Couture House.

I started by creating wedding dresses for rather demanding clients. This lasted 10 years. After that, I went back to Paris to launch the ready to wear.

What is Biarritz for you? What does this city evoke for you or the place that inspires you the most?

I'm not very nostalgic but I'm still sensitive to this elegant era of the beginning of the century and what's inspiring is that this very 19th century city perfectly welcomes the 21st century. The elegant ladies and bathers have given way nicely to the sportsmen and surfers.