×

Subscribe to our newsletter

Highlights From the Previous Week, Partnered Events and Haikus. View our Newsletter archive

Tenue de Ville: Emerging Wallpaper

Aug 17, 2017

From fashion to wallpaper was a single step for Alexia de Ville de Goyet, who tells TLmag about creating her Tenue de Ville brand.

Scroll right to read more ›
Text by Marie Honnay

Three years ago, multidisciplinary artist Alexia de Ville de Goyet launched Tenue de Ville, a wallpaper brand that is already dressing up the interiors of several boutiques in the capital city (Ernest, on rue des Chartreux, and Chouke, on rue du Bailli). Now, the brand is preparing to take over the world. We met with the young, thirty-something artist with the big future and even bigger ambitions.

TLmag: The Tenue de Ville brand wasn’t always about wallpaper. Tell us how you got here.

Alexia de Ville de Goyet: I first graduated in scenography from Saint-Luc in Brussels. I then trained in different artistic techniques, such as videography, photography, etc. With my love for design, I was initially interested in creating a clothing brand, which I called Tenue de Ville, as a play on my family name of course. After my first collection, I realised that only the artistic side of fashion – creating printed materials, in particular – truly interested me. The cutting work, and developing a ready-to-wear collection, were much less interesting for me.

TLmag: Tell us about the meeting that reoriented you towards the world of interior design.

AdVdG : Someone suggested that I develop a wallpaper brand. From the outset, I knew that I wanted to differentiate myself from digital printing; to use a traditional production technique, along with Belgian manufacturing. The artisanal colourists’ work enabled me to achieve the effects I wanted, especially for integrating metallic pigments or flakes, etc.

TLmag: Can you describe the creative process you use for your collections?

AdVdG: I work in a very intuitive way using inspirational images and memories from my travels. The current collection, Balsam, plays with the range of metallic shades. It has a less figurative spirit than my early efforts; among others, I use torn and layered paper that is assembled, then scanned and redrawn. For Balsam, I also experimented with raised inks that create a structure in the paper. My fourth collection, scheduled for release in January 2018, is inspired by the traditional kimonos I saw in Asia, which I have interpreted in an illustrative and more pictorial way. Alongside a classic range that uses repeated patterns in sea greens and gold, I offer a more contemporary, digitally produced approach, for example, a design of oversized stones in black and white.

TLmag: What about your (very special) chromatic research?

AdVdG: Colour is central to my approach. Each pattern (14 per collection, all copyrighted) is available in several colours. It works out to about 50 plates in total. Each design is produced for four years. Afterwards, it is removed from the collection. However, I can always seek out an old pattern – one that has already been used or that has stayed in my drawers – and reinterpret it in a completely different way later.

TLmag: During the past few months, you have been refining the brand’s image, especially with a series of short films.

AdVdG: At the beginning, I didn’t see this project as a marketing tool. I was simply approached by director Edouard Valette, who shares my artistic sensibilities and taste for photography and videography, two disciplines I explored during my studies. Our association was therefore logical and natural. Over the course of a year, we worked on a series of five small filmed pictures that highlight the various references in the Balsam collection. More than a marketing plan, it is a lovely, nuanced collaboration that underscores the artistic dimensions of the brand and its high-end identity.

TLmag: And this identity enables you to position yourself internationally.

AdVdG:  During the two international tradeshows I took part in last January – Textile M in Frankfurt and Maison & Objet in Paris – I identified new points of sale in Russia, Spain and France. My next challenge: the American market, one of the most difficult to conquer. A year ago, I took some time to contemplate the future of the brand. Today, my goal is to sell less, but within the right positioning, in-line with the identity I wish to give the label. Recently, I also hired my first employee whose mission is to boost our visibility in social media.

WBDM – Wallonie-Bruxelles Design Mode is closely collaborating with TLmag for interviewing a selection of Belgian talents in fashion and design from Wallonia and Brussels, in order to promote them on the international scene. 
Read more articles on WBDM News Feed and on TLmag Online Edition Wallonie-Bruxelles Design Mode

From fashion to wallpaper was a single step for Alexia de Ville de Goyet, creator of the brand Tenue de Ville
From fashion to wallpaper was a single step for Alexia de Ville de Goyet, creator of the brand Tenue de Ville
Each pattern is available in several colours. After four years, it is removed from the collection
Each pattern is available in several colours. After four years, it is removed from the collection
Alexia de Ville is refining the image of her collections through photo shoots that are in-line with their arty identity
Alexia de Ville is refining the image of her collections through photo shoots that are in-line with their arty identity
An overview of the (third) Balsam collection, which came out in January 2017
An overview of the (third) Balsam collection, which came out in January 2017
To guarantee the most authentic final result, Alexia de Ville uses traditional production techniques, rather than digital
To guarantee the most authentic final result, Alexia de Ville uses traditional production techniques, rather than digital
This saffron-hued Lintu paper perfectly reflects the style of its designer, who sees herself as a multi-technique artist
This saffron-hued Lintu paper perfectly reflects the style of its designer, who sees herself as a multi-technique artist
A mix of digital and artisanal, the designs of Tenue de Ville are exported to France, Russia and Italy
A mix of digital and artisanal, the designs of Tenue de Ville are exported to France, Russia and Italy
Back

Articles you also might like

La Patinoire Royale Bach, a contemporary gallery founded by Valérie Bach nearly 10-years ago, opens its 2024 season with an important exhibition of early works by seminal California Light & Space Artist, Lita Albuquerque. The exhibition, installed in the nave of the large gallery space, is on view through April 13th.

Spazio Nobile presents Good Luck! New Experiments, a group show of nine designers, at the 7th edition of COLLECTIBLE, at the Vanderborght Building in Brussels between March 7- March 10, 2024.

La Verrière – Fondation d’entreprise Hermès, presents “Emi e dames messeur”, a solo exhibition of work by Belgian artist Koenraad Dedobbeleer, that includes a mix of previous and new works as well as art from his own personal collection. The exhibition is on view through April 27, 2024.

From Sunday, January 28th to Sunday, February 4th, 2024, the 69th edition of BRAFA will take place at the Brussels Expo. Featuring 132 galleries from over 14 countries, the 2024 edition of the leading art fair is planning to be one of its best yet.