In the design world, commissions generally come with prescriptive briefs; being given free rein is something of a rarity. “It’s a sign of extreme confidence in you and your artistic vision,” explains Garance Vallée, the artist and designer who has created set designs for the likes of Nike, Maison Margiela and champagne house Perrier-Jouët, developed a rug collection for Nordic Knots, and collaborated with Paraboot on a special edition of their signature derby shoes. “Rather than coming to me with a precise idea, brands call upon me for the universe I can create for them.”

The daughter of a painter and an artist’s agent, Vallée grew up in a home in which she was encouraged to express herself. She spent much of her childhood practicing ballet, drawing, visiting contemporary art museums and listening to records with her brother. When she graduated from her architecture studies in 2016, she incorporated this varied experience into a practice that includes painting, sculpture and installations. 

“People kept telling me, ‘You have to choose whether you’re a painter, an illustrator, a decorator or a designer,’” she says. “But I don’t believe that there’s only one medium for communicating an idea, that an architect has to sit in front of a computer all day generating 3D visuals. I love presenting my vision in the form of paintings, for example, so that clients have the impression of entering into one of my tableaux once a project is completed.” 

Vallée is open-minded about how these visions are brought to life. The prestigious brands she has worked with have enabled her to develop ambitious projects and given her access to premium materials, but she doesn’t shy away from collaborating with lesser-known labels with limited budgets because it brings her “greater creative challenges and satisfaction.” 

Though most of Vallée’s days are taken up with client commissions, she still finds the time for personal projects. “The need to create for myself is primordial,” she says. “If I don’t nourish the artist inside me, I can’t nourish my other projects.” She recently had her first major solo exhibition, showcasing paintings and design objects at Paris’ Almine Rech gallery and is working on a line of hand-upholstered furniture with her husband, the artist Franck Pellegrino.¹ 

And she’s not prepared to stop there. Having recently created the scenography for Maison d’en face, a dance production choreographed by her friend Leo Walk, she would like to get involved in more theater productions and set design. “I want to leave the door open to the future and the opportunities that present themselves,” she says. “I never really had a plan of where I wanted to go, things just accumulated and brought me to where I am.”