This new series, Design bites, unveil the backstage of contemporary creation. Tackling various topics from personal designer processes to the position of Collectible design on the global design market; these bites offer different views to suit all tastes. Today we talk with Victoria Magniant, founder of Galerie V.

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COLLECTIBLE: How do you position your city in the global design market, what trends make your city unique?

Victoria Magniant: Paris still has craft makers, workshops and small ateliers that have survived relocation. We can work with them and enjoy their specific knowledge - it is very important to fight for them so that their art can be imparted. I work on a regular basis with Laverdure et fils, and their knowledge of wood, varnish and pigments is precious to me, for example.

“It is very important to fight for them so that their art can be imparted.”

C: What is your opinion on 3D designs and renderings compared to other more traditional ways of presenting design? How do you foresee evolutions in that domain: do you think it is a perennial practice or an ephemeral one that reflects our needs for escapism and imaginary spaces?

VM: In 2020, I collaborated with Anthony Authie from Zyva Studio, to create a beautiful, surreal universe. I really like the way Anthony saw my work and this allowed us to create a “passerelle”, a bridge, in between two usually separate worlds: the world of craft and the world of CGI. In these images, my furniture evolves in a totally new dimension. I find it very inspiring and it will influence me for the years to come. It allows the designer to let go of constraints and to experiment more audaciously.

C: Which collectible design trends do you forecast for this upcoming season? What do you think we will see at COLLECTIBLE this year?

VM: The charging lamp “Celeste,” made of Murano glass and patinated aluminium. I wanted to create a beautiful outdoor lamp, like a glass moon, that you could easily move around. I like it because looking at it, after months of research to develop a first prototype, it reminds me a little of a beautiful Pierre Charreau lamp, the “NUN.”

C: What have you been up to recently? What are the next projects/exhibitions you wish to highlight?

VM: Recently I have been inspired by the naïve shapes and poetry of Jean Arp. I designed a desk and a dining table that I will show in September during the Paris Design Week. I will also create a series of 3D images with Zyva Studio for the occasion.

About Victoria Magniant (France)

After studying graphic design at Central St Martins in London, Victoria Magniant quickly surrounded herself with creative and established artists.

Her relationships with craftsmen all over the world lead her to grasp a very topical challenge: the development of tangible know-how in a disrupted economy. Victoria is very attached to a sense of ethics and infuses it in all her projects through a central idea: the creation of alternative production systems, whether for a clothing collection, a perfume or a furniture line.