Why just girls?
Why not?
Find Cocotte Design’s star of the week every Saturday.
Cocottes
Esther
I would be the globetrotter of the bunch. With Dutch parents, raised the USA, relocated to Peru after university, later to Scotland, and finally to lay down roots in France with my French husband only to decide that actually we really would like to move to New York City and experience its amazing adrenaline and energy. At 37-years-old, a first time mother to a beautiful little girl named Rosemary, I hope to be your eyes and ears to the city’s burgeoning design scene.
My professional background could be considered just as diverse. Since childhood, I have taken a great interest in art and design, at one point even going back to university for graphic design but never having the chance to finish.
Fortunately, upon finishing an MBA degree at the ESC in Grenoble, opportunities presented themselves and I was able to work in the design / décor industry with the Atelier Martin Berger in marketing and brand management. This experience has confirmed that I should continue in this field, Cocotte design being the latest proof.
Ariane
41 years of age, 3 daughters, and since 2004 an interior design business to run means I am always on the move. I work closely with my husband, a plastic artist, in charge of the atelier’s business development and communication, in which I am completely invested and enjoy thoroughly while discovering this incredible world of talent !!!
Curious, always enthusiastic and a hard-worker; some even criticize me for being “too energetic” but, for me, it would be impossible to do life otherwise…I love to live deep, to suck out all themarrow of life!
I am passionate about dance and travel, the latter bringing me to Paris to embark on a career in sales for the airline industry before moving the entire family to live among the cowboys in Phoenix, Arizona (USA). Two years later we returned to France to reconstruct our lives in the Grenoble city center…transforming old stables into a loft, a superb place that combines our family and professional lives as Martin built his first atelier under the same roof. And the adventure continues…
The new atelier and showroom, which opened last autumn, has been influential in shaping the atelier into what it is today along with its amazing team. But it’s those chance meetings with Esther, my sister at heart, then Kris and Axelle, busy with their start-up, and finally the little communication agency run by Violaine and Bénédicte that caused the rocket to soar…why not join these dynamic women, these various life paths and experiences in a new challenge…Les cocottes, dare to make it happen…and here we are !!!
Stéphanie
I feel truly European with a French father and a German mother. I live in Paris with my husband who is a graphic designer and my 3 cocottes, um, I mean daughters.
Becoming an interior designer seemed natural to me because the field aligned my three core subjects: art, languages and math, during my French/German baccalaureat.
I love to travel and speak, not perfectly mind you, all languages, and at the same time I appreciate the logic and rigour of math. However I feel most at home in the arts. For a long time I’d wanted to become a fashion designer.
Having worked for many large interior design agencies, like Jean Nouvel and Andrée Putman, for whom I worked on various projects (boutiques, hotels, spas, residences and offices), I decided to start my own business.
Freelancing in this milieu allows freedom and a flexible schedule, however lacks the office conviviality which I like so much.
This is perhaps why I was so attracted to the Cocotte Design concept. Cocotte-Ariane and I were looking for a joint-project together as our work is very complimentary. I had initially joined Cocotte Design as an artist after their 1 year anniversary. (designer for the Cocotte signature jewellery collection as a parallel activity)
I was so taken by the group dynamic that I joined them full speed ahead in all the upcoming projects, as I am a true believer in Cocotte Design!
My mantra: “Follow your Cocotte-instinct, it will give you Cocotte-balance, Cocotte-happiness and Cocotte-success”!
Kris
What gets me flying out of bed every morning is designing soft furnishings and running the international business, Leroy & Scarpa, which was initially my final executive-MBA project. After an international career in sales and marketing, in import/export and high-tech, and studying at the Kelly Hoppen School of Design, I wanted to do something more creative within the interior design arena.
I have thus become a ‘luxury artisan’ who has found a small niche expertise in throws, pillows and other soft furnishings. Fine fabrics are my passion and I love to travel worldwide to seek out new treasures for our clients (luxury hotels, boutiques and interior designers).
On the personal side, I am an American love “hostage” from San Francisco, currently living at the foot of the Alps with my French husband and two sporty children.
I’d sought out other entrepreneurs with whom we could start a parallel design partnership and/or project and one cocotte introduced another….Esther introduced us to Ariane who introduced us to Bénédicte and Violaine….and we all seemed to synchronize into place to launch others’ creations with the ‘feminine touch’ in design.
Bénédicte
On the verge of turning 30, It will soon be seven years now when I dropped my luggage in Grenoble, to be with my boyfriend. Why Grenoble? Because it is not far from the Savoie region where I am from, and is still within the same mountain range and offers rich, cultural diversions.
Two years ago, Violaine and I joined forces to create Kerosine, our little active communications agency where I’m in charge of the development for websites. I really like (even love, to be sincere) new technologies and video games. It’s true that I have a little geek-side, but I am not a Tom-boy as my wardrobe and handbag collections serve living proof!
I love to press forward, try new things, live new experiences. So when Ariane and Kris asked Violaine and I to become ‘cocottes’, I didn’t hesitate for a second…
Violaine
I’m the baby-cocotte !
Originally from Valence however rooted in Grenoble, France since 2003, I am a graphic artist at Kerosine where I have loads of fun with my cocotte-partner Bénédicte (even if I sometimes get unnerved and I would prefer to be a goat herder in the Vercors Valley….it’s just for laughs)
When I’m not working, I love to do many different activities and make lists of things I’d like to do. On one of my random lists, you may find: clean the balcony and plant flowers, go see the last Tim Burton film, book a quick expo-concert-shopping trip to Paris, find more time to ride horses, work more on my parallel projects (like Under-gre and Cocotte-Design), organize an aperitif with all my girlfriends whom I haven’t seen for a long time (or at least call them), eagerly await the next Aaron album, renew my wardrobe, hit the gym more often…..
As you can see, I am rather busy…and even if I complain at length about it, I admit it pleases me to be very involved !
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