Margaux Keller, rooted in freedom
Published on 3 April 2021
Two years ago, designer, interior designer and maker Margaux Keller launched her eponymous brand. A celebration of made-in-Marseilles creations imbued with the heady scent of the south.
For the past eight years, Margaux Keller has been working out of a sun-filled studio in Marseilles, gleaning inspiration from her Mediterranean surroundings. Her collections of furniture and accessories resonate with the sounds of the “Phocaean city”, exuding its perfume and reflecting its light. “Marseilles is a sun-drenched city with an amazing lifestyle. I find it both soothing and inspiring,” she admits. The Margaux Keller Collections catalogue features a beautifully curvaceous and exquisitely refined small-sized armchair that she chose to name Galinette, a local term of endearment affectionately used for little girls, and which literally means “little chick”. Her latest collection goes by the name of Paradis Perdus (“Lost Paradise”), “a reference to the south, which is my very own Eldorado, a world of childhood fun and holiday homes indelibly etched in my memory. It’s also a dreamy landscape, a voyage for the mind at a time when we can’t simply jump on a plane”, continues the woman who spent some of lockdown re-reading Marcel Proust’s works.
Margaux Keller graduated in design and interior design from France’s National School of Art and Design Olivier de Serres, and the Ecole Boule. Her brilliant qualifications initially opened the door to a position at Philippe Stark’s studio, where she rubbed shoulders with Eugeni Quitllet, followed by la Fabrica, Benetton’s R&D centre in the Italian town of Trévise, where she worked under Sam Baron. In 2012, she found herself magnetically drawn to Marseilles, a place that holds numerous family ties. “I loved my time in Paris. But after spending a year in Italy, where I’d got a taste for la Dolce Vita, l’aperitivo, Spritz and tramezzini, I simply couldn’t see myself heading back to the grey skies of the capital.” Having put down roots in the south, she began designing for Habitat, Roche-Bobois, MADE.com, SIA Home, CFOC (Compagnie Française de l’Orient et de la Chine) and up-and-coming design houses Bibelo and Ooumm.
Over the years, Margaux Keller has also designed perfume bottles for Cartier, Yves Saint Laurent and Dior. Her latest project sees her explore previously unchartered territory, creating her very own home fragrance. “It’s a scent for the home designed to reflect a scent you would use yourself,” she explains. “Perfume “Nose” Marie-Caroline Symard and I worked together to bottle memories. I really enjoyed this highly creative approach, which tells a veritable story.” The jus blends the salty air of the Sormiou Calanques with the resinous notes of cliff-top pines, whilst the bottle itself is an ode to craftsmanship, as with everything she designs. The glass is blown in Italy, the oak collar is darkened with a walnut husk stain, and the top is carved out of a plant-based bio-acetate. Everything is crafted and assembled at a Fab-Lab in the centre of Marseilles, a digital fabrication hub for artisans.
But Margaux Keller hasn’t simply captured her memories in her fragrance. She has also incorporated her philosophy and her designs’ rounded lines, adopting a highly expert, local, and at times even ancestral manual production process. For quite some time, the young 34-year-old has been questioning her role as a designer and maker in a world drowning in a tsunami of production. Her response has been to embrace ethical and ecological manufacturing: short circuits, small-scale manufacturers, limited edition pieces. The smallest items are gift wrapped Japanese-style in scarves, known as Furoshikis. The furniture and accessories that feature in the Margaux Keller Collections can currently only be purchased online directly from the brand itself or via temporary exhibitions in the presence of the designer and manufacturers, as craftsmanship comes at a price. It’s a system that also gives her a huge amount of freedom. There’s one last thing that goes into Margaux Keller’s creations - a generous helping of emotion, which she sees as the driving force behind design, along with form and function. “The poetry and emotion people experience encourage them to hold onto our pieces for a long time, and then to pass them on, reflecting our ethical principles.”