1. Where were you born and where are you from ?

2. What is your first memory connected to the art world ?

3. Have you always worked in the art/design field ?

Trained as a stylist at “La Cambre”, I have worked for 25 years to create trends, colours  and fabrics for the world of lingerie. During two years, I worked at Isabelle de  Borchgrave’s studio. After which I launched Mlle Jo Design Studio, where we draw, develop and produce poetic useful, and sustainable objects.

4. What led you to the design creation ?

I’m attracted to creation as a whole. I’m driven by passion, amazed by the creation, I’m  full of emotion, I’m fuelled by constraint, consumed by inspiration and blinded by beauty  architecture has always been my passion, and as such object design has become an obvious path for me. 

5. How would you describe your creative process and it influences ?

My approach is based on intuition with a fascination for the material and the intention to offer something beautiful and different. My vision delicately intertwines heritage and technology aiming to offer creations designed to last and be transmitted. While trying to produce as locally as possible and to highlight our know-how. I’m like a sponge, I soak up everything around me and reimagine it in my own way.

6. Could you describe a typical day of your work ?

I start by having a look at the daily design newsletters I’m subscribed to. I take care of my emails. Somedays, I create, somedays I produce, but most of the time it’s solving issues.

7. Why did you choose the specific materials you work with ?

I like materials from nature with all their differences, all the pieces of wood & stones are different, artisanal glass is very versatile and surprising and the work on metal is endless.

8. What are the technical particularities of your creations ?

My objects appear at first glance very simple, but they are the result of a reflection to ensure there is usefulness and versatility in each of them. I love the turn wood, stone &  metal techniques, it gives curves in all directions and has a very soft aspect. I also cut models in 3d or paper (/ cardboard) like I did when I was making clothes. At school, we learned the direct bust-cutting technique. With which you cut off your model as a 3d  sculpture. I still use it constantly for design nowadays.

9. What advices could you give to beginning artists who would like to create sculptural design works ?

Immerse yourself in inspiration to find what you like and what makes your hearth move,  and travel to look at things from a different point of view with a new eye in order to get out of your comfort zone. be open to the unknown because the unknown is a source of freedom.

10. If your works had to belong to a design movement, in which one would you define it ?

“Le Bauhaus” for it’s functional and distinguished shapes, as it merges art, craftsmanship and industrial production. I love their use of frank materials and minimalism.

11. What designers and artists have influenced you ?

Hans J. Wegner, Arne Jacobsen, Ingo Maurer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier,  Marcel Breuer, Jean Prouvé

12. What contemporary designers do you appreciate ?

Les Frères Bouroullec, Christophe Delcourt, Lindsey Adelman, Jaime Hayon. 

13. What contemporary artists (in any kind of art) have you been inspired by ?

Alexander McQueen, Ann Demeulemeester, Manolo Valdes.

14. If you had to summarize your creations in one word or sentence, what would it be ?

Proust Questionnaire with very short answers (one or a few words) :
(The Proust Questionnaire is a set of questions answered by the French writer Marcel Proust. Other historical figures who have answered confession albums are Oscar Wilde, Karl Marx, Arthur Conan Doyle, Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Cézanne…)