An episode on the 15th of each month since 2023.
On the 15th of each month, I host an artist, designer, or any other professional who contributes to the promotion and support of these trades.
We don't talk about the creative process – certainly fascinating, but already explored in other media. We discuss management, strategy, communication – in short, how the magic happens. behind the scenes.
Music and direction: Philippe Drevet
This month I am welcoming Etienne Baillet founder of Baillet Office.
Lawyer and entrepreneur, Etienne is above all endowed with a great artistic sensibility that enables him to support creatives with understanding and precision.
And as he writes so well:
«Immersed in drawing and painting since childhood, today, more than ever, I am determined to support those who search, who doubt, who explore, who question, who dare, who try or who propose, through art, answers, solutions and insights into our humanity. Curious and enthusiastic, I also support photographic creation and the live performing arts through passionate patrons, who are sources of inspiration and encounters.»
So we naturally talked about:
⚖️ How and why he founded his own next-generation law firm; ;
⚖️ How he surrounded himself over the years; ;
⚖️ His relationship with art, notably through corporate patronage; ;
⚖️ Why it is essential for designers to protect their creations, all the more so in a constantly evolving world, and even more so with the AI revolution.
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Episode hosted by Ausha and available on all listening platforms
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Music & direction: Philippe Drevet
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If you listened to the previous episode with Anne-Caroline Frey, founder of Loire Valley Lodges,
you already know I'm taking singing lessons.
Otherwise, you will find out more in this episode with Valérie Maucourt, my singing teacher then.
Thanks to their support, via the school Harmonics, I have learned to find and use my voice.
So I wanted to invite her onto my podcast, firstly to thank her, and above all to explore the voice with her,
this tool with which practically all of us are equipped and which, like every instrument, requires practice.
This is how Valérie and I spoke:
🎤 of presence, of energy, of musicality; ;
🎤 on the role of the voice in leadership; ;
🎤 of the coach and educator mindset, whether in one-to-one support or within a group.
I hope this episode makes you want to tune in even more to yourself and to others.
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Episode available on Ausha and all listening platforms
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Music & director: Philippe Drevet
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LBM Lili Bonnet Management
Business Coaching & Training for Creatives
A new training course is coming soon! I'm going to be running a workshop on 2 July > message me to find out more lbm@lilibonnet.com
For this episode, I'm taking you into the forest.
I met Anne-Caroline Frey thanks to Emmanuelle Gillardo, founder of the press relations agency Emmalab.
After a career in advertising and media in Paris, Anne-Caroline launched into entrepreneurship in 2011 to create a network of art enthusiasts — enthusiasts in the emotional sense and not in terms of investment, as she specifies — and to link it with the art of living.
She then founded Loire Valley Lodges, an eco-hotel in the heart of a 300-hectare estate, which is celebrating its 5th anniversary this year.
Designed as an invitation to reconnect with art and nature, this place is alive. Everything is designed to slow down, to tune into one's senses, and it is therefore conducive to creation.
We obviously talked about how and why she founded this unique place; ;
But also of the customer journey; ;
And development prospects.
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Music & Direction : Philippe Drevet
Journalist, food critic, author, Elvira Masson is present in many media: print media, digital, radio, telly, and edition.
And yet, this naturally shy person didn’t really want to be in the spotlight like that!
With Elvira, we spoke in particular about:
📝 The ambivalence of creative professions, caught between precariousness and privilege; ;
📝 Boundaries that we increasingly set for ourselves, thanks to age, experience and maturity; ;
📝 On the importance of meeting people, and the friendships that are forged in the workplace — and vice versa.
It is a joyful and authentic interview, reflecting this woman «who is a contemplative thwarted by her ambition», as her long-time friend and collaborator describes her François-Régis Gaudry.
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Music & director: Philippe Drevet
If you are starting with this episode, I invite you to listen to the first part in which we talked about the journey of Cécilia Mergui before she decided to buy back and revive the brand Beloved, founded by Robert Bienaimé, perfumer.
I was so captivated by her story and the brand's history that we got carried away without seeing the time pass.
So we recorded twice, hence this two-part broadcast.
If you have already listened to the previous episode, welcome to the continuation of this wonderful story!
Cécilia talks to us about her position as an entrepreneur, her team and partners, her strategic choices, her more empirical decisions, the constraints she imposes on herself... and the profound meaning of her project.
Cécilia Mergui revived the perfume and cosmetics brand, Beloved.
Founded by Robert Bienaimé in 1935, this eponymous brand has a very strong history that it was essential for Cécilia to preserve, while developing new products.
And in the second life of Beloved, I feel that you really sense this connection to the past without being stuck in the past, a true harmony between history and innovation.
We had an extensive chat, to the extent that we didn't have time to finish during the first recording and so I opted for a two-part episode, the chronology of which fell into place quite naturally.
In this first part, we begin by looking back in detail at Cécilia's journey — her studies and various professional experiences, right up to her extraordinary venture with Bienaimé.
Then we discussed the buyout of the brand, the fundraising rounds, the manufacturing and production challenges, the product composition, olfactory direction, the art direction, communication…
In short, all aspects of this brand's launch.
And see you in the second part to learn more about the team, the shop, the commercialisation, and the development prospects.
Meeting with Marie Welté, co-founder of Maison Labiche.
Pioneering in the personalisation of embroidered t-shirts, Maison Labiche has since developed a womenswear, menswear and children's wardrobe.
Marie has always loved making and creating with her hands. The first t-shirts were, furthermore, embroidered by hand — like the one I bought when the brand launched nearly 15 years ago.
In this episode, to which Marie wanted to dedicate the necessary time to delve deeply into numerous topics, we covered in particular:
🧵 His academic background and the differences between a French *grande école* and an American university
🧵 The brand name
🧵The structure and growth of the company
🧵Recruitment and development of MLB managers and team members
🧵The products: design, quality, marketing, communication
🧵The entrepreneurial mind-set
Self-taught photographer, Matthieu Salvaing lives in Paris and works worldwide.
He tells us how he started out at a very young age, and how encounters have punctuated his career, right up until he quite naturally specialised in architecture, design, travel and lifestyle.
While it can be said that Matthieu Salvaing produces location portraits whom he photographs for the leading architects, the most renowned and cutting-edge magazines, he is also a portraitist with a keen eye for interior design. The women and men he photographs are always placed in a setting that reveals a great deal about the protagonists.
Through his photos, you feel that he is extremely precise and attentive; he immediately captures the soul, the place, and the intention.
In this interview, Matthieu Salvaing takes us on a journey to the Camargue, his native region, and Brazil, his adopted country. His voice is full of his native South and his movements can be heard on the mic, he is so animated when he speaks!
I was captivated by her story, and charmed by her energy.
At the end of the interview, I added a mini bonus, a sort of tie-breaker question asked by Alexandra Senes, a long-standing mutual friend.
August in France is sacred.
It rhymes with paid holiday, shells and crustacea, peak holiday traffic, red traffic alerts.
And above all, it is an invitation to idleness, to the dolce vita — to doing nothing.
Idleness – whose Latin etymology, *otium*, is the opposite of *negotium* – refers to «the state of someone who lives without working and without having any permanent occupation» (Larousse).
Often associated with laziness, it is nevertheless essential for regeneration, and therefore for creativity.
Jean-Pierre Blanc is the Director of the Villa Noailles, which operates as a national hub for fashion, art and design.
He is a passionate, committed man with strong values and he is devoted to promoting young artists and designers. Jean-Pierre Blanc is the Director of the Villa Noailles, art centre of national significance.
Villa Noailles is an architectural gem designed by Robert Mallet-Stevens for Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles, a couple of avant-garde patrons of the arts who had a particular appreciation for the decorative arts, music and dance, and who wanted, to quote them, a «small house that is interesting to live in»
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As Jean-Pierre so aptly writes in the preface to the book ‘Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles, Mécènes du XXe siècle’ published by the Villa Noailles, it is a place «that is magical, lived-in, extraordinarily beautiful, whose facades Robert Mallet-Stevens knew so well how to carve. A heliotropic villa, it lights up at the first rays of the sun, plays with shadows during the day and then blazes in the twilight.»
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This staunchly modern house is celebrating its centenary this year.
You climb up the alleyways of the Old Town of Hyères and you come here almost like on a pilgrimage — its original name, Clos Saint Bernard, almost evokes a place of worship, of quiet reflection.
And it has somehow become a place of aesthetic worship and contemplation for artists in residence, as well as for visitors.
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As a worthy spiritual heir to the Noailles family, Jean-Pierre Blanc perpetuates their commitment to supporting creation, and the venue's vocation of welcoming artists and the public.
Passionate and driven by deep-rooted values, Jean-Pierre talks to us in particular about his vision of the French system, his conception of leadership and his definition of public service.
By listening to our conversation, I hope you will be able to feel both the spirit of the place and of the Noailles family, and the radiant energy of this man dedicated to promoting young creation.
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Who are The Crafties?
The Crafties It is a designer and scenographer duo, consisting of Marie-Marie Vergne and Jeanne Martin Taton.
The Crafties are two young women who come from the South, breathe the South, live in the South — after brief northern forays for their studies and their first workshop — and express the South in every square centimetre of their work, which draws inspiration in particular from Mediterranean flora and fauna and their childhood memories.
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When you meet Les Crafties, you immediately feel the joy, complicity and trust that binds them.
What interested me was understanding how they started, how they work as a pair, any difficulties they encounter, and their relationship with one another.
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They hadn’t planned on setting up their studio before taking part in the first edition of the Design Parade Toulon organised by the Villa Noailles — and they speak about it wonderfully: «The teams are extraordinary, and it was the first time we were given the means to benefit from a technical team — to move beyond the academic, to a real-world creation».
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They also tell us about their respective family backgrounds, which encouraged them to make a living from their art, and everything that their partnership brings them.
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This is the French summary of Episode #3.1, which is entirely in English. Whether you’re a designer, a journalist, a representative of a major brand, or simply a fan of design, the Salone del Mobile is the place to be in April.
It was my second time and I enjoyed it even more than last year because, for one thing, I know the city a bit better now—we walk all over it for miles and miles—,
And this time, I also had the podcast in mind, which allowed me to connect differently with the energy and the people.
In this short bonus, I recount my 4 interviews:
– Alberto Cavalli, Executive Director of the Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship — based in Geneva
– Sarah Quan, creative director and co-founder of Villa Nomad — based in Zurich
– Riccardo Villa Fabbiati, interior architect and designer and founder of Monstrum Studio — based in Milan and Paris
– Chloé Nègre, interior architect and designer, and founder of Studio Chloé Nègre — based in Paris
Everyone agrees that Milan Design Week is obviously an opportunity to experience unprecedented aesthetic encounters — we all loved the installation at Dimore Centrale — an aesthetic slap in the face, somewhere between grandeur and decadence.
And Salone del Mobile above all offers the opportunity to discover incredible, secret places that are closed to the public the rest of the year.
I asked each of my 4 guests to define this edition in a single word, and they summed up the spirit and energy well: epiphany, collaborative, solar, and vernal.
And if I had to sum up Salone 2023 in one word? I’d say exhilarating!
