A shining entrance to 2011 with Celine Wright!

Auteur : Ariane | 01-08-2011

Before beginning I loved this warm telephone interview with Celine.  I love her little peppy, timeless logo, her website where one can order products online, and her models "Spheres" & "Tamago"…

Tamago

She was bored, her job was not exactly what she wanted, then with papers left on the outskirts of the market or those left here and there, Celine made her first objects out of paper maché. She loved the idea of recycling these papers and the different feels of each piece (carbon, crumpled, or waterproof paper…) with which she could later use to create…

A British father, A Franco-Algerian mother, Celine grew up between London, Paris, and Tokyo. She studied at the Franco-Japanese high school where she inherited the eastern culture and their adoration for paper. Celine graduated from the Ecole Duperré and continued her studies at the College of Applied Arts (Specializing in Textiles).

In a courtyard, she exhibited her first teapots in paper maché, which were made at home. The exhibition was success leading the organizer to ask, "why don’t you make lamps ? It’s easier to sell."  And so the story begins…

Sixteen years ago the Lamp "Pèlerin" was produced by "Pachyderm". It was a hit with the French press specialized in large posters on the London Underground.  This encouraged her to continue her creative lighting.

She created "Cocon", which was exhibited at Maison et Objet in the "Talents à la Carte" section showing her own identity as a designer-craftsman, without knowing anything about the market.

"Cocon", like many other models are one-of-a-kind, molded and structured by hand.  Celine states "a shell of the cocoon may consist of more than 1600 strips of paper pasted individually into a mold. This can take up to seven hours of work."

Cocon

What inspires her most is nature, details, energy, a flash of light, a cloud or the wind in the grass… These organic elements are important in all of her compositions. Celine dresses the light in nature, inviting us with poetry in return to our homes…

Small resources, big effects ... Paper, glass, stones, and a simple pencil define the lines of the object.

She composes, mixing modern technology with traditional know-how, particularly with Japanese paper called "Washi", a lightweight, flexible, durable, and extremely resistant material.

Sphères

Her schedule is very busy; her days are non-stop, where she’s the boss! Thus, she must have her head mounted like a weathervane.

In her workshop of four, is based in a former industrial wasteland in Montreuil, where many artists have come together to share part of the production and showroom of Celine Wright. She creates new models and expands her collections with new ideas, colors of materials and technology: Integrating the lightness of LED to that of paper, researching how to involve the user in the creative process…

A new collection called "Pétales", is very light, elegant, and feminine. It invites us to travel in the spectrum of color.

Pétales

The latest in the family "Sphere" is a suspension light called "Coquille d’oeuf" which also allows the user to play with color.

Coquille d'œuf

Today she and her team produce differently using the model called "cottage industry" which focuses on creating a network of workers that are home-based bringing back local production and conserving a hand-made product.

Céline believes in this philosophy, which has allowed her to begin a new era of bespoke creations. These orders now take precedence as she responds to requests from architects and interior designers around the world.

Her house, also a former industrial site transformed into a loft, is two steps away from the workshop, perfect for managing the other half of her life, family.

The décor that she loves is that of large volumes refined with beautiful materials or just a few objects to highlight the architectural lines of the place... But she admits that her place is not necessarily like that. She does not have enough time to furnish her home as she would like so in the meantime she places small finds here and there.

Her favorite place to escape is in the "Causse Noir", her second home in the middle of nowhere. Here she and her family find a little bit of serenity away from the excessive consumerism.

She likes artists like Andy Goldsworthy and Giuseppe Penone, land artists, as well as the Impressionists, but at the moment she hasn’t been able to go to any recent exhibitions…

What are her current projects?
She would like to develop exhibitions in galleries and orient herself towards land art creations.

After her success bringing nature into our homes, she would like to take us back outside, to the heart of its source.

Celine, thank you and see you soon!

Practical information:
www.celinewright.com

You would like to see the showroom ?
Call for an appointment : 01 42 87 99 48 - info@celine-wright.com