A conversation with
Olivier Gagnère
Creativity, the blend of influences and styles, the colors and prints... This is what catches our eye when we enter designer Olivier Gagnère's apartment. In fact, everything about Olivier's home is eye-catching. We don't know where to look. Travel souvenirs, furniture and trinkets he designed, others given to us by artist friends... Here we witness an accumulation of whimsical and extraordinary objects, reflecting the image of this cultured and radiant man.
Hello, can you introduce yourself?
My name is Olivier Gagnère, and I'm a designer—although I don't particularly like the word. But let's just say my job is to design anything that can fit into a home. I design everything from floor to ceiling.
Your father was an antique dealer, you grew up in a refined environment, how did that influence you?
My father mainly sold 18th century bronze objects. I spent my childhood and adolescence in an apartment filled with magnificent things in which the decor was constantly changing. Depending on what my father found and sold, things passed through our home. It was like a large art book constantly open because my father explained to my sisters and me the origin of the objects, their use, etc. This allowed me to acquire knowledge and develop a great curiosity around the object. I was able to appreciate the way in which this furniture was made at the time. It was a very important school for me that formed my vision, which is essential.
By the way, you are self-taught, what experiences have taught you the most about the profession?
Being self-taught gives you a lot of freedom. The freedom to do more or less what you want. It allowed me to experiment with a lot of things. I started by designing goldsmith objects and learned by visiting artisans and goldsmiths. By talking with them, I understood how things could be done. I saw them doing things, I saw them working.
Imagine you're in a coppersmith's workshop, you see how he works, how he uses all those little hammers he uses to shape sheets of metal. From the moment you understand how an object or a piece of furniture is made, you can draw it. And I think that in art schools, they don't show enough how things are made. So, things come naturally. Because otherwise you can draw five-legged sheep. So it's true that today with 5D printers we can make magnificent things, but these things still have to be reproducible with the material you want to use.
« Being self-taught gives you a lot of freedom. »
You are constantly researching materials. What motivates your choices of materials and shapes?
It's the way of implementing materials that interests me at first. It's true that I'm very sensitive to matter, because it's something visual, tactile. I've always tried to mix materials that you can't normally mix together, like a luxurious or rich-looking material with a much simpler, even poorer, material. To give you an example, I've often used felt. The felt that printers use to make diapers. When they press the paper, they use a diaper, a sort of felt sheet made with rabbit hair.
It's 3-4 mm thick, and we use it to protect the sheet when it passes under the roller. So it's a very simple material. We used it initially to put it in the soles of slippers like charentaises, or to make hats, which are formed with steam. It's a material that in itself is nothing exceptional, but if you make it sing with another material, it becomes something more interesting, which will give it relief. What I also like is the way certain materials take light. There are materials that absorb, and others that reflect. So depending on the time of day, the objects change.
« What I also like is the way certain materials catch the light. »
What did you like most about the By Charlot pots you chose for your home?
What I liked was the simplicity of the shape of these little pots. They are very simple but there are nice details. The roundness, the ring,... Their simplicity may seem to go against what I usually do (rather decorative and busy things), but in fact the objects I design are basically very simple, then I add elements that form the decor. Whether it is a graphic or voluminous decor. These small miniature pots constitute a very delicate setting for the plants, almost minimalist. What is also interesting is all the finishing possibilities that you offer: glossy, matte, semi-matte, gold, etc... This really allows you to compose something with the plant that is in harmony with your interior or what you want to do with it. Finally, the succulents you have remind me of Japanese minimalism. I have been to Japan a lot, I made a lot of ceramics and porcelain there. And your little pots remind me of the refinement of the Japanese. They are very careful about how they present plants and pay attention to details. These pots appear very minimalist, but their proportions are very well designed. I am drawn to these objects because I find them elegant but not generic.
« What is also interesting is all the finishing possibilities that you offer: glossy, matte, semi-matte, gold, etc. »
What is your relationship with plants in a designer environment?
I design a lot of ceramics, as well as vases and containers. I love flowers, cut flowers, I find them very beautiful. I'm not very good at arranging plants or flowers in a vase, but I really enjoy designing their container. Everyone should let their imagination run wild and I've created a lot of vases because I think it's very important to have plants or flowers at home. There has to be that element, otherwise it's a bit dry.
At By Charlot, the art of gift-giving is highlighted, and we strongly believe in the sentimental value of objects. What is your relationship with the objects you create?
The first driving force behind creation is passion. So I am attached to objects that I love more than others, but it is obvious that when you design an object or a piece of furniture you have to think about its ability to last over time. This object must also be able to dress a very contemporary interior as well as a very classic interior. It is from the moment it has this ability to integrate into its environment that it is successful. So when you have an object that for you goes well with your interior, there is automatically an affection that is created for this piece of furniture or this object. You care for it, you take care of it. If it is no longer there, you are missing something. For me it is obvious that there is an emotional connection to things.
« It's very important to have plants or flowers in your home. This element must be present, otherwise it can look a bit dry. »
What are your sources of inspiration and how do you work on your creativity?
My sources of inspiration are multiple. First of all, when you want to create, you have to know how to look. You have to have the ability to observe what surrounds you, even details. The detail in a painting, the detail of a piece of clothing or architecture can capture your gaze, your attention, and resonate. It is often from a detail that I begin to design a piece of furniture or an object. Inspiration is like a current of air, sometimes it comes very strongly, other times you feel it less. Often an idea comes to you right away, the rest of the time you have to let it macerate a little. During confinement, I did a lot of things in my studio, organized my archives, which are quite substantial, and I immersed myself again in my drawings.
There are things I had completely forgotten. I realized that I had sometimes redrawn things that I had drawn 25-30 years ago, sometimes with a variation. It amused me a lot because it proves that sometimes you have a stroke of the pencil, the thing sounds right, and for x reason it is not in line with the times, people are not convinced, and 10 or 15 years later you redraw by chance this object that you had forgotten, and all of a sudden someone says to you "It's superb!" It's always funny, I tell myself that I was not mistaken, because internally I knew that this object was good. For me it was interesting from the start but I forgot about it because no one wanted it. There are no rules, what is important is to look, to be curious. If you are not curious, you are not creative.
« It is often from a detail that I begin to draw a piece of furniture or an object. »
What is the object that you have not yet imagined and that you dream of?
Maybe a sailboat. I'd like that. I think a sailboat is very beautiful, and I love the sea. Maybe I could design a sailboat one day...
What would he be like?
It wouldn't necessarily be big. I started sailing when I was a kid, starting with dinghies, and I have some pretty fabulous memories of it. The way they were built, the shapes I found magnificent... At the time, they were very fast, sporty dinghies, the first dinghies that glide over the waves. And those were the first emotions I experienced. That feeling of surfing the waves left me with a great memory, and one day I'd like to design a dinghy that can surf... without it being like foils, those incredible machines that take off from the water but look like flying insects. I imagine something more noble, more classic, where the hull glides over the water and you feel the sea spray... There you go, maybe we're getting close to my next dream.
