N: Hi Loïs ! How have you been lately, how has Paris been treating you?
L: Hi !! Thank you for this interview. I have been processing a lot of things at the same time lately. Paris is a bit of where I am mentally at the moment: the fashion weeks on one side, the social strikes on the other, and chaotic in general.
N: Your work is so unique because of the balance you have found right at the crossing between fluidity, nature, organic matter, and technology, and all with a very personal taste for colours and shapes.
I’ve read that you have grown up in the countryside. I assume the beauty and isolation must have greatly influenced what you make now. But how has it been for you to nurture your creativity when you’ve been living in busy cities for a while now?
L: I think the spiralling feeling of getting sucked into swarming cities is an endless inspiration for me.
I love to get swirled into effervescent nights and unexpected situations and spill it out the next day into a solid silver piece of jewelry. It’s all about balance.
N: Your work is powerful because it redefines the idea of beauty, often it is associated with make-up or costumes and somehow always contributes to enhancing one’s appearance, like an exoskeleton would do. Is the will to “enhance” one’s appearance something you do consciously?
L: I would say that every piece of jewelry captures and spreads the power of revealing the beauty of its owner. I don’t know if it is something I am aware of while creating but I love to see the finish piece that way, as a powerful unique lucky charm that will elevate who you are.
N:Your work often portrays fluid identities, how important is it for you to use your art to promote diversity and inclusivity?
L: I don’t intentionally use my art to promote diversity and inclusivity. These values exist simply within the work. They come from who I am and how I navigate as a trans person and it will resonate with people who understand it.
N: You describe your work as being "Organic, delicate, in mutation" Is there any living organism you feel particularly drawn to?
L: Lately, I have been obsessed with Owl Butterflies. Their wings have specific patterns that mimic the yellow eyes of a big owl to prevent them from being killed by their predators.
I found it fascinating to see how every living organism will develop and adapt to its environment to survive in such inventive and poetic ways.
N: It’s interesting because even though you create everything by hand and most of your influences are very “organic”, there is also this ongoing sense of seeing the future through your designs.
I wonder how you see technology influencing the way art is experienced in the future?
L: Unfortunately, I cannot see it in the future, but I love to see how technology can help with the creative process. For example, there are so many limitations while creating a piece of jewelry by hand that can be overcome with machines and the right technology.
N: Thank you so much Loïs for taking the time to answer these questions today. To close this interview I would like to talk about love. After reading a couple of your interviews I sense that love is something that has a real place in your life, what role does love have in your creativity?
L: I really love this question because I feel that this feeling is very at the core of everything I undertake. As silly as it is, I’m only moved by artists who really love what they do. I feel there is something brutally honest and unconditionally true coming from this place. You can tell when someone does something from their heart.
Love never lies. It’s this vulnerability and authenticity I’m searching for within this world.
