Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Age: 29 (Aude and Charles).
Occupation: Co-founder and creative director of Audette (Charles). Co-founder and CEO (Aude). Partners in life and work.
Instagram: @audetteofficial
Hometown: Paris (Charles). Paris and Nice (Aude).
Studio location: Roma Norte, Mexico City.
Describe what you make: We design handbag objects or objects that can be used as a handbag. In short, we like that our creations can decorate an apartment or accompany a person.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: Our model “Le Nuit,” a rigid half-moon shaped bag, was the first piece of our collection and remains our major creation. Our idea was to move away from the conventional shapes of handbags by looking for geometric lines that allow a playful use. This piece is still present today in great concept store around the world (MoMA Design Store, Centre Commercial Paris…)
Describe the problem your work solves: We’re trying to reconcile some design lovers with handbags. Leather goods sometimes have a cheesy side with black and old brown colors. So we give ourselves the mission to propose colorful, contemporary, and wearable creations.
Describe the project you are working on now: We’re working on a capsule collection from cactus leather developed in Mexico. We used to be a bit reluctant to use “vegan” materials, which are often plastic, but in this case we think it’s great to use a quality alternative to animal leather from a local innovative material.
A new or forthcoming project we should know about: We were going to open an Audette shop in Mexico City—a very beautiful place with aluminum and resin furniture in the Roma Norte neighborhood designed with two French architect friends. The work is currently on hold due to the pandemic, but we hope to be able to launch it before the end of the year.
What you absolutely must have in your studio: Music, music, music. Pug posters for Mariana, our production manager.
What you do when you’re not working: Aude is currently taking part in a twerking course on Zoom and likes to paint. Charles reads a lot and likes to take analog photos. Together, we love to go camping in the middle of nature.
Sources of creative envy: Charlotte Perriand, Matisse (Aude). Xavier Dolan, Martin Paar (Charles).
The distraction you want to eliminate: Instagram, but since it’s part of the job, it’s complicated (Aude). Watching soccer games every two days (Charles).
Concrete or marble? Marble (Aude). Marble and concrete (Charles).
High-rise or townhouse? Townhouse with ten floors.
Remember or forget? Remember—one of my instincts is browsing photo albums for hours (Aude). Forget—I have a goldfish memory. It’s an expression we use in French to say that like a fish in its aquarium, I forget everything after one lap around the tank (Charles).
Aliens or ghosts? Ghosts (Aude). Aliens (Charles).
Dark or light? LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT.
