Louis Barthélemy in front of "NILE GYM" an appliquéd and hand embroidered tapestry made in Cairo
Louis Barthélemy is a multidisciplinary artist and designer based between Marrakech, Cairo and Paris.
At the heart of his practice is a deep commitment to the preservation and revival of traditional crafts threatened by globalization. Barthélemy not only collaborates with artisans from all over the world but contributes to publicize their work, to safeguard their means of subsistence and to transmit their precious know-how.
It was as a teenager growing up in London that he began to travel across worlds and cultures. Fascinated by the intricate construction of the articulated armor belonging to the samuraï soldiers and exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Barthélemy then discovers the Egyptian collection of the British Museum which fascinates him, dragging his parents weekend after weekend to contemplate with wonder the Rosetta Stone.
While enrolled in a fashion design Bachelor course at Central Saint Martins, Barthélemy began working for Dior as a scarf designer. For four years, he juggled between Paris and London, working for the Couture house and at University, to finally graduate in 2012 with a collection in which he imagines the 19th century femme fatale, the Countess of Castiglione waking up in the 1970s to become the darling of the Palace, a decadent Parisian nightclub of the time.
Although he continued to design prints and scarves for Salvatore Ferragamo and Gucci after John Galliano’s departure from Dior, Barthélemy is increasingly disillusioned with the fashion industry. After a health crisis that put his priorities back in place and sparked a thirst for authentic and human experiences, he moved to Marrakech in Morocco, a city whose gentle energy he admired, and began to travel the world for good.
A love story that takes the young artist and designer to Cairo in 2017 ends quickly, relayed by a fascination for Egyptian culture and craftsmanship, which will lead to collaborations with traditional artisans from Cairo, the Nile Delta and the secluded Berber oasis of Siwa. Other creative partnerships followed with artisans working a variety of mediums in Morocco, Lebanon and Syria.
“I am drawn to parts of the world where humans know their lives are hanging by a thread,” says Barthélemy. “Everything worthwhile follows: confidence in fate, belief in friendship, an instinct for kindness and appreciation for beauty. I try to incorporate this lesson learnt in Egypt into everything I do".
With this exhibition, Barthélemy inscribes his works for the first time of his artistic career in a museum in dialogue with the permanent collection of the establishment, which made a deep impression on him during his first visit to Dakar.