As far as legacies go, artist, designer, and long-time Anthropologie collaborator Nathalie Lété’s is impressive. As well as working with yours truly, the Parisian visionary has partnered with the likes of Gucci, Issy Miyake and more to produce hundreds of functional works of art that are nestled on homes and wardrobes across the globe.
Married to artist Thomas Fougeirol and mother to daughter Angèle, and son Oskar – both also artists – creativity seems to be at the core of the Lété-Fougeirol family’s DNA and an integral part of their evolving heritage.
We caught up with Nathalie to understand where it all began, hear about the inspiration and encouragement she’s experienced along the way, and her feelings on her Lété-Fougeirol family’s artistic history in the making.
Role Models (& Artistry)
with Nathalie Lété
The work-living space that your studio is housed in is absolutely stunning. How long have you been here for?
We bought the studio space around twenty years ago. The children were small and we wanted to raise them without stressing about the balance of life and work too much. We could treat the studio like it was a home. The children could run in the gardens outside and play with the other children from the different homes and spaces. It’s an old metal factory – some parts of the Eiffel Tower were built here – and when we bought it, it was very industrial.
Let’s go back to the beginning. Did you always want to be an artist?
When I was a child I wanted to do art, you know, in the way children do painting and things, but I wasn’t really thinking about art as a way to make money. But when I was 18 years old I went to an astrologer, someone to read my stars, and they said to me that I would have success in that. It made me more self-confident and I went to art school. I didn’t ever think of going to art school – no one ever told or encouraged me to do that. I wanted to work as an air hostess. I thought it was a good way to travel!
We bought the studio space around twenty years ago. The children were small and we wanted to raise them without stressing about the balance of life and work too much. We could treat the studio like it was a home. The children could run in the gardens outside and play with the other children from the different homes and spaces. It’s an old metal factory – some parts of the Eiffel Tower were built here – and when we bought it, it was very industrial.
Let’s go back to the beginning. Did you always want to be an artist?
When I was a child I wanted to do art, you know, in the way children do painting and things, but I wasn’t really thinking about art as a way to make money. But when I was 18 years old I went to an astrologer, someone to read my stars, and they said to me that I would have success in that. It made me more self-confident and I went to art school. I didn’t ever think of going to art school – no one ever told or encouraged me to do that. I wanted to work as an air hostess. I thought it was a good way to travel!
You mention that you enjoyed art as a child. Was this influenced by your parents at all?
My parents were not artistic at all – my father worked in a restaurant and my mother was a secretary. My art has definitely been influenced by German fairy tales from my mother though. Also, my family's close friends in Germany collected and sold folk art furniture, so as a child, during the school holidays I would go and visit there, and I would fell asleep looking at the beautiful cupboards and things. So really, I began to love folk art from then.
How about your father? Did he influence your personal style of art in any way?
My father used to sell silk Chinese fabrics in the streets when he was a student to make money – all with beautiful flowers – and I think it is really in me and I instinctively reproduce them. When I was a teenager, I made my pocket money with silk painted scarves.
My parents were not artistic at all – my father worked in a restaurant and my mother was a secretary. My art has definitely been influenced by German fairy tales from my mother though. Also, my family's close friends in Germany collected and sold folk art furniture, so as a child, during the school holidays I would go and visit there, and I would fell asleep looking at the beautiful cupboards and things. So really, I began to love folk art from then.
How about your father? Did he influence your personal style of art in any way?
My father used to sell silk Chinese fabrics in the streets when he was a student to make money – all with beautiful flowers – and I think it is really in me and I instinctively reproduce them. When I was a teenager, I made my pocket money with silk painted scarves.
So, your style of art is an amalgamation of those influences?
Personally, the things that I love are folklore and folk art from different cultures but especially Chinese mixed with Eastern European styles because these are my origins. I love all toys, vintage toys and nature and flowers and that all is in my art.
All of that has come together to make a very distinctive and recognisable aesthetic. Have you developed it this way intentionally?
I don’t try to make special styles, it’s just my thoughts and way of thinking. I have my own special world – it’s filled with flowers and toys and animals, particularly animals of the forest. But with all of that, the requests I get from people and the commissions have also influenced my special world. It’s not only me who has made this. I don’t know what I would be doing if people didn’t ask me for the things they have during my career.
Personally, the things that I love are folklore and folk art from different cultures but especially Chinese mixed with Eastern European styles because these are my origins. I love all toys, vintage toys and nature and flowers and that all is in my art.
All of that has come together to make a very distinctive and recognisable aesthetic. Have you developed it this way intentionally?
I don’t try to make special styles, it’s just my thoughts and way of thinking. I have my own special world – it’s filled with flowers and toys and animals, particularly animals of the forest. But with all of that, the requests I get from people and the commissions have also influenced my special world. It’s not only me who has made this. I don’t know what I would be doing if people didn’t ask me for the things they have during my career.
You’ve mentioned toys a couple of times. What’s the significance of toys?
I like to work with toys because I really prefer not to paint humans. I like to make my own stories and humans can influence that. I don't to represent real life but instead prefer to represent what I have in my mind and my dreams. Rather than paint real people I prefer to paint Little Red Riding hood and other characters to make a story of my own.
Do you have a favourite medium to work with?
My favourite mediums to work with are painting and ceramics because I like to sculpt and enamel. Sculpting because it gives you a lot of emotion, to give life to something. The glaze because it’s like magic, sometimes you don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s like a miracle. It’s the same with painting from toys, you give life to something. I also love textiles – I studied fashion and I love to patchwork and bring different things together. Each discipline brings you joy in different ways. That’s why I like to do different things. Each thing gives you a different satisfaction.
You have had a long and successful career but we imagine it hasn’t always been smooth and plane sailing. What’s the best advise you’ve ever received?
To protect and keep to my style. It is not right for everyone and that is ok.
I like to work with toys because I really prefer not to paint humans. I like to make my own stories and humans can influence that. I don't to represent real life but instead prefer to represent what I have in my mind and my dreams. Rather than paint real people I prefer to paint Little Red Riding hood and other characters to make a story of my own.
Do you have a favourite medium to work with?
My favourite mediums to work with are painting and ceramics because I like to sculpt and enamel. Sculpting because it gives you a lot of emotion, to give life to something. The glaze because it’s like magic, sometimes you don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s like a miracle. It’s the same with painting from toys, you give life to something. I also love textiles – I studied fashion and I love to patchwork and bring different things together. Each discipline brings you joy in different ways. That’s why I like to do different things. Each thing gives you a different satisfaction.
You have had a long and successful career but we imagine it hasn’t always been smooth and plane sailing. What’s the best advise you’ve ever received?
To protect and keep to my style. It is not right for everyone and that is ok.
Both of your children have followed you into the art world and you work alongside your daughter Angèle. How do you find working so closely with your daughter?
Working with Angèle is nice, and it’s easy. And it’s great to be able to pass some of the craft that I’ve learnt to her. We have some of the same ideas but we are also different people. Angèle is developing her own style, so the work we do here is definitely a real collaboration. She does a lot of the shapes and the sculptural work and I do the painting and colours. Angèle will say she is ‘inspired’ by my style, but finding her own way, and that is true.
Coming into this world of art has been natural for Angèle. She grew up surrounded by this, she studied in the same art school that I went to. It was all almost instinctive for her, but she still has to work hard. My son has to work hard too – he is studying at art school in Geneva. I am very proud of them.
Has it ever been difficult to let go of your artworks?
At the beginning I wanted to keep everything for myself and not sell my art, so for that reason it was nice to move into product – to see my artwork make its way to other people worldwide was beautiful. I like the idea of a piece of myself being everywhere.
Working with Angèle is nice, and it’s easy. And it’s great to be able to pass some of the craft that I’ve learnt to her. We have some of the same ideas but we are also different people. Angèle is developing her own style, so the work we do here is definitely a real collaboration. She does a lot of the shapes and the sculptural work and I do the painting and colours. Angèle will say she is ‘inspired’ by my style, but finding her own way, and that is true.
Coming into this world of art has been natural for Angèle. She grew up surrounded by this, she studied in the same art school that I went to. It was all almost instinctive for her, but she still has to work hard. My son has to work hard too – he is studying at art school in Geneva. I am very proud of them.
Has it ever been difficult to let go of your artworks?
At the beginning I wanted to keep everything for myself and not sell my art, so for that reason it was nice to move into product – to see my artwork make its way to other people worldwide was beautiful. I like the idea of a piece of myself being everywhere.