Sarah Espeute weaves her stories in a workshop in southern France: tales of fabrics found here and there in peoples’ homes. Her motto? Give them a second life through minimalist embroidery.
Photos: @sarahespeute on Instagram
The designer’s artistic journey began in Provence. Then, she went to the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Appliqués et des Métiers d’Art in Paris, where she focused on graphic arts and illustration. Next, she headed to London to learn about art printing and interior design. These creative meanderings led her to sunny Marseille. Her search for a direct, personal and intimate means of expression naturally encouraged her to switch from the digital world to the manual purity of embroidery, which she already practiced as a child.
Simple, playful and timeless illusions: Sarah Espeute’s dinner-ready motifs meet memory-steeped cloth that is sometimes hundreds of years old. The designer is driven by this need to make things last. Ensuring a long life, while beautifying the space: a love of particularisms that propels the young artist to the forefront of the design scene.
Her Œuvres Sensibles creations draw their primary inspiration from her family heritage. Between visits to historic monuments, ancient churches and homes filled with vintage furniture, the artist integrates this sense of temporality and creates a dialogue amongst these elements while tacitly rejecting flamboyant and ephemeral trends. Apart from that, it’s just everyday life in Marseille, habits, and objects on terraces, but also the way people take their time here. Finally, it is often other artists – many of whom are interdisciplinary themselves – who guided her to interior design. Such as Valentine Schlegel, Eileen Gray and Charlotte Perriand, to name a few.
You can find her creations here.
Follow Sarah Espeute on Instagram.
AMV Journal is a space dedicated to encounters, discovery and travel. Every week, explore the musts, portraits and inspirations of American Vintage and its creation studio.