About the Resident

Gala Espel is a French product designer and scenographer graduated from Ecole Camondo Paris in 2021 and ECAL, Switzerland, in 2022.

Gala sees objects as points of connection between individuals. She develops a thinking where a native design can emerge from a territory through the collaboration of a network of people and the transmission of contextual local knowledge. During her residency, she meet with Brooklyn-based artisans to imagine a series of objects that through shared reflections and work aim to be current expressions of the borough cultural landscape.

Presented in partnership with Villa Albertine and École Camondo.
Supported by the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation

galaespel.com
@galaespel

Learn more about the French Residency

Laureate of the Mondes Nouveaux competition held by French Ministry of Culture, set designer for le19M, the new building dedicated to Chanel’s métiers d’art right after graduating and now living between Paris and Tokyo, her work is imbued with an active and political research on design and cultures around the world. This nomadic thought process grew out of her international experience, particularly when living in Asia and getting acquainted with small communities and traditional crafts. By working in constant motion, she seeks to approach other ways of understanding objects, the origin of forms, the meaning of gestures and the history of techniques. In this wealth of cultures, she sees an inexhaustible source of potential.

Her work has been exhibited at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris and Milan Design Weeks.

Gala’s team for Objects in Dialogue

Brooklyn Through Gala’s Lense

Welcoming and Farewell Gathering

Gala’s Experience

1. After a few weeks back in France, what do you consider has been the most important and beneficial outcome of your two-month residency in New York?

Two weeks after my arrival in France, it’s already very clear to me that my residency, which was oriented towards encounters, conversations and learning through contact with peers in the design and manufacturing community here in New York, has been extremely fruitful. Thanks to all the people I met, craftsmen, gallery owners, artists, designers, historians, researchers and museum directors, who opened the doors of their establishments to me, I was able to understand how design is viewed in the United States, and how it is done here. I really liked the clarity of the design scene in New York, and I encourage all future residents to go to the source – although continuing to delve into books and academic writings – of their subjects, to also meet the protagonists. Thanks to this, I’ve been able to build a future project in New York and meet the right people to make it happen, as well as expanding my professional horizons to this continent.

2. What was your overall impression of the residency program?

For me, it all happened in a very spontaneous way. The places, the events, the people – they all came at the right time because I wanted to leave room for randomness. I often compare this experience to a jazz track, where improvisation is a large part of the overall piece. It was a very free although structured moment, highly dense and energetic.

3. What was the most exciting and unexpected discovery?

I think at some point when I had set myself the goal of entering the design phase of the project, i.e. starting to think about the technical aspects of fabrication and implementation, I realized that the subject I was dealing with undoubtedly deserved some extra time of reflection. I realized that this country in its whole and throughout its history had been built specifically through this foreign cultural influx. 

Instead of getting out of this reflection and directing my thoughts towards pure design considerations, I wanted to take advantage of the last moments of immersion and conversation, of the simple fact that I was still in New York, to continue imagining this collection of objects. I have no regrets about pushing back this design phase, as I was able to have other ideas and draw other forms – understanding the scope of the subject, and translating it I think more intelligently.

4. Tell us a little bit about the project you worked on during your two months in New York. How do you want to continue to develop this project?

The project is entitled « Objects in Dialogue”, the idea of a series of objects conceived through collaborative work – dialogue – with a number of artisans, that can express Brooklyn’s cultural diversity. The core of this subject is to talk about the history of immigration and the cultural influences coming from elsewhere, through the possibility of visualizing these origins through objects born in Brooklyn. 

A collection, in short, created by non-native Brooklynites using two materials that are, themselves, very much native to here: ceramics and glass. These objects are hybridizations of the cultures present in the borough today. To achieve this, I met with over thirty craftspeople – ceramicists and glassmakers, as well as other makers and thinkers who contributed to the construction of this Brooklyn multicultural network. 

Today, four glassmakers and four ceramicists are part of the project. Each object will involve a pair of craftsmen – a glass and a ceramic artist, this will be our constraint and the rule. I am continuing to meditate and to make choices on the artistic direction and design aspect (technical and formal) of this collection. I’ve put together a wonderful, extremely dedicated team, I was able to forge solid enough relationships with them and we’re planning the outcome of this collaborative project to be exhibited at Paris Design Week 2024 and hopefully other exhibition venues in the United States.

5. Would you be interested in coming back to NYC and continue working on this same project?

I have to! These makers and I are extremely committed to this project. Early next year I will have to come back to direct them during the production phase.

6. What’s next for you, do you have upcoming projects, travels, or exhibits you would like to share?

When I arrived in Paris, I immediately took the train to exhibit at the Villa Noailles in the south of France, where I’m one of the finalists in this year’s product design competition Design Parade Hyères. This exhibition runs until next September. So I haven’t had a minute’s respite! The same project will be exhibited a fortnight later in Tokyo in October, as I’ve been invited along with four other young designers to exhibit during Tokyo Design Week. During the summer, I’m presenting a set design with choreographer Mathieu Guilhaumon and dancer Marie Agnès Gilot. I’ll also be working with my Brooklyn team on « Objects in Dialogue » begun during this fantastic residency, so I can say that next year will also include a few months in New York for the production of this beautiful project.