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Constance Guisset / IN THE AIR ///

Inspired by a strong artistic sensibility, Constance
Guisset began her career as an administrator at
the Nelson art gallery and then went on to work
at the Bouroullec brothers’ studio. Her personal
development, through creation and the poetry of
design, led her to enrol in the National School of
Industrial Design, from where she graduated in 2007.
After she won the 2008 Paris Grand Prix of Design
and the 2010 Audi Talent Award, the Museum of
Decorative Arts staged an exhibition of her work in
2017. This showcased her highly individual approach
which incorporates experimental research, esthetic
considerations and pure creation. However, at the
outset, there was no indication that this bright ESSEC
Business School student would become a designer,
apart from her desire to work using both her brains
and her hands. This, and the driving force that has
inspired her since childhood: the desire to understand
what goes on behind the magic, to understand the
manufacturing process of a product as well as its
history and its uses. Meet one of the most influential
figures of French design.

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At the start of your career, you designed the Vertigo lamp Stage design is a large part of your work. How do you get to grips
that requires no introduction. Is Constance Guisset an iconic with creating the necessary magic?
designer? C. G.: Stage design is a completely different field: you have to
Constance Guisset: If the lamp is considered “iconic”, can we make the space work in order to bring the content to life, to
say the same about the designer? What I do know is that I am meet the requirements of a choreographer, a commissioner or an
really happy about the success of this product, that no longer artist's content. Discussions and close cooperation are essential.
belongs to me, but to every one of its users. It is amazing to I am constantly asking myself questions about the rhythm, the
see how each person embraces it. timing, the impact. I’m basically trying to create a gateway to
another world.
You have a multi-disciplinary approach to your craft. In what
way does interior design differ from product design? Ballet, exhibitions, hotel rooms… what inspires you the most?
C. G.: Visualizing a space is different from designing a single C. G.: Each project has its own character and its own charm.
object. You need to work on the whole atmosphere, understand its What’s more, they play off each other. For example, the all-paper
components, find the balance and blend into the space just like a fish stage design I created for Angelin Preljocaj’s staging of Genet’s
in an aquarium. “The Tightrope Walker” led me to create a lamp called Angelin.
How important is it for you to bring a touch of imagination to It’s impossible to choose. An encounter might inspire me, or a
particular subject, or even a moment.
daily life?
C. G.: Too often we just make do in terms of our daily lives. Have you ever considered designing a public area?
The way that manufacturing works means we have to just accept C. G.: Public areas are quite distinct spaces. It doesn’t matter if it
the fact that floorboards, for example, are cut at right angles. I think is a hotel or the entrance hall to a museum, I always enjoy creating
my work does the opposite of that. We can surround ourselves with something welcoming, something light and airy. My dream is to
objects that are a bit different, we can create an element of surprise, design a restaurant which is probably my next project, and also a
things that make you sit up and take notice, that bring pleasure and station ticket hall.
endless fascination.