Interview / Léa Bigot for Passages Residency
The Passages residency aims to connect designers, architects and tactile artists between Lagos and Marseille. Spearheaded by the French Institute, this is the second year of the program’s running. 16/16 joins the list of partners this year to welcome French sculptor and designer, Léa Bigot. During the first week of her arrival, we interview her to ask about her inspiration and goals during this residency.
portrait of Léa Bigot, courtesy the artist.
Tushar: Before we started recording this conversation, you were telling me that you grew up on an island and this island has influenced your work a lot…
Léa: Yes! I grew up on Reunion Island, a small little place with 1 million people only near Mauritius. I grew up in an environment formed around a volcano - the “wild” South. Here, nature was almost untouched. And then after all this lovely childhood, I left for Paris to pursue my studies.
T: What was Paris like? What did you study?
L: It’s a little bit of a winding story. My Dad was an artist but in the purest sense of the word. he believed that creating was the ultimate pleasure and he despised the idea of having to make money by selling his works. In this sense, he didn’t really make much money being an artist. When I moved to Paris, I was scared of following that path and becoming a struggling artist for my entire life and so, I decided to pursue graphic design in university. This path took me into luxury and the fashion industry.
T: Sounds exciting!
L: It was! Until it wasn’t. Working in fashion, I was always on my computer and I was really missing this body link with material from my childhood. So I moved to the south of France where I could afford to have a larger studio space and started working with clay. I regained this link with nature that gave me back my freedom to create. I’ve now been working with clay for about 4 years.
T: How did your relationship with clay change across those 4 years?
L: Initially, I was disappointed about my ability to make things exactly as I imagined. Working with clay can get very technical and I was impatient in the beginning. One thing about clay is that it demands time and patience. If you don’t have that, forget about it. At the same time, I also didn’t want my creation process to be too conceptual and require too much thought. I wanted it to come from my body and be this visceral process of making. So I switched up the process one day and started working backwards, carving from a big chunk of clay. This is how my process was born.
T: And how do you arrive at these forms?
L: I try to make people feel what I have felt during certain moments in contact with nature. You know when you witness very heavy rainfall or a waterfall or something that is bigger than you, you have this kind of….. it's like beauty and strength at the same time. And this is what I'm trying to express.
T: And some of these expressions become light or furniture?
L: Yes. That’s because of my applied arts education. I think I have this appeal for design because I’m passionate about it. One of my biggest inspirations was Jean Arp. I would love a world where we wouldn’t produce as many objects that have no sense. I would love for people to make their own objects and put soul and beauty into it. Exactly what you’ve been doing here in Lagos at 30 Ajasa Street! Making beauty with what you have.
T: I call it Lagos Assemblage because the city provides so much, it actually designs with you. For example, I’m really excited about the portable market stand that your counterpart - Paul Yakubu - is making in Marseille. You can see that he’s taken the typology of something that exists already in Lagos and is kind of elevating it into the realm of more well laid out design.
L: Yes, I’ve seen those umbrella - market stands.
T: So how can Lagos help you and how can you help Lagos?
L: For me it’s really about making connections and meeting people. I’d like to build meaningful collaborations so that I can keep coming back. The project is also really interesting, obviously, but I don’t want to put too much pressure on just coming here and making. I want to enjoy the city, create at a gentle pace and make some new friends.
Léa Bigot is an artist born on an island in the Indian ocean from where she continues to draw constant inspiration. Moved by the shapes of the elements, she is inspired by what she feels in contact with nature, whether it is the black cliffs of her native island or the dazzling whiteness of Marseille’s creeks where she lives. Léa uses sculpture to create shapes made to evolve in the domestic space. She rethinks objects and their place in interiors. Between Art and Design her work embrace this ambiguity creating useful and unique sculptural pieces made to live with us, in the most singular way.
