THE FOX AND THE OWL
Marrying design and traditional embroidery: the defi was difficile and the meeting seemed unlikely. We turned to matali crasset afin to reveal all the stupendous potentialities of this technique that is as raffined as it is encumbered by dusty preconceived notions. In collaboration with embroiderer Céline Le Belz, Meilleur Ouvrier de France, the project was born. First imagined as an alternative to stuffed animals, our two creations metamorphosed before our eyes through the virtuosity of needle painting. As suddenly as subtly, the Chouette Effraie and the Renard Roux awoke. Captivating anti-trophies were born. The technique of needle painting, created in the Renaissance, requires such a mastery of embroidery that years of practice are required to practice it. Like the most virtuosic pictorial works, this precious art insuffle life by delicately shading a myriad of colors. The gaze of these two animals then vibrates with a fascinating light, embodying a hymn to life.
From the skylight of its nesting box, the effraie owl supports any look. For as long as anyone can remember, its astonishing immobility has always aroused admiration as much as fear. Must she be wise for the goddesses to require her at their side... Piercing with her powerful vision the mysteries of the night life, the effraie espouses the most perfect serenity. Its gaze does not judge; it probes the soul in search of the secret fascination that the wild kingdom still awakens in each of us.
Par excellence animal of the imagination and ambiguity incarnate, the fox evolves between nature and culture without ever being attached to one or the other. If we think we understand his intentions, we are already mistaken. One would swear it is painted, it is embroidered. Poking fun at our hesitations, the fox plays with everything and sends us back to the ingenuity of a nature so inventive that she offered to humanity the inspiration in the art of creation and innovation.