Maisonnée is an adorable new French lifestyle brand from designer Audrey Belin – with an enigmatic fascination with fairytales and mystery. From Courtoise – her magically incandescent vintage glass or crystal containers, to her signature Auguste mirror, complete with bunny ears; Belin’s collection evokes the fantasy of childhood, without ever bordering on kitsch. We caught up with the designer to discuss her fledgling brand…
Who are Maisonnée, can you tell us a bit about your background?
January 2012, after my diploma in Duperré and Arts Décoratifs of Paris, I founded Maisonnée. Located in Paris, Maisonnée is a design studio that creates home decor objects, made exclusively in France.
How long have you been working on your debut collection – and what have been the biggest challenges in getting it to this stage?
I prepared Maisonnée two years ago. Many things are important when you want to start an enterprise. Get time and space for work, money… but many things are so marvelous; your friends who help you, the pleasure to work for yourself, to speak with manufacturers… see your objects born. The hardest thing has been choose a name for the brand. I don’t know why, but I had a mental block about that! I think I had considered all my work in such detail, but with the help of friends I have realised it’s the final step, but it’s not the most important step, and I can quietly choose a name of Maisonnée. Maisonnée, it’s a really beautiful name – much used in fairy tales – in French it’s the name of people living together in a house.
Where does the fairy tale, wonderland theme come from? Is it something you see will always be a part of the Maisonnée brand?
It’s right, any object of Maisonnée is “magic, fairy…”. When I draw an object, the final shape of it expresses a poetic universe and my objective is enchanting daily life with a delightful complicity. My culture helping me to imagine a product, and when I have succeeded to create an allusion to popular culture, that’s wonderful. Like for Auguste, when I hear “oh it’s the rabbit from Donni Darko, or it’s Alice’s white rabbit… “, this is the embodiment of my personal culture.
From the rabbits to the mirror that becomes wings, there’s a strong animal theme running through the collection; is there a logic behind this, or do they just look cute – like that adorable dog?
Ah Ah, that’s a big thing for me, I don’t know why, but the animals have a big place in my creativity! Maybe it’s the most universe shape. With animals I can tell a magical story, I really like the idea of changing people, when you use the Auguste mirror you look at yourself with the rabbit ears, and when you do that you smile and I’m sure you’ll take care of your mirror…
Where do you see Maisonnée in 5, maybe 10 years time?
I hope Maisonnée’s objects will be sent all over the world, and I can produce in my own factory.
