Bello et Bello, céramique et poésie

Based in Flanders, a few kilometres from Lille, this duo are designing the contours of a dream-like universe. A world born from their passion for craftsmanship and ceramics.

It all started when two people met. Maxime Blanchet was then a pastry chef, and Jade Ladeyn was a fashion and decorative textile designer. Soon after they met, these two creative spirits embarked on a voyage to Asia that lasted seven years. Their journey led them to Thailand, Nepal and India. They immersed themselves in local craftsmanship and discovered what would become their favourite medium: ceramics. They didn’t know it yet, but once they returned to France, they’d create the studio Bello et Bello. While Maxime models the plaster moulds, Jade acts as artistic director and sketches the future creations. They use their know-how to create handmade pieces, with fantastical and supernatural profiles, ranging from table lamps to wall lights, not to mention incense holders. of them recount a very precise story. This includes the “Orion” lamp, inspired by imagery from the 1970s as well as from the undersea world. There is a gentle evocation of Maxime’s childhood in Brittany with his grandmother who worked in the fish market. The “Argon” lamp is decorated either with a tender blue or an elegant raku design. Recognisable thanks to its many spheres, this lamp is inspired by the gas of the same name, one of the “rare gases”, found in the Earth’s atmosphere but also on Mars and Mercury. More pared down in form, the “Ethar” wall lamp is a blend of motifs imagined by Verner Panton and a button found on a vintage jacket in Berlin. With a repertoire filled with unique stories and forms, Bello et Bello present themselves as “a declaration against banality”, producing pieces with a “timeless aesthetic”, a thousand miles from “fleeting conventions” and from a “world often obsessed with speed”, with a focus on “longevity and the belief that each object we design becomes a precious heritage that finds its harmonious place in each era.” It’s a way of creating they split between a permanent collection and a more ephemeral one, in limited runs. The most recent drop features a new version of the “Apollon” pot cover, which also comes with its own narrative. It’s the story of a friend of the partners, a psychotherapist, who commissioned them to make a piece for her office. It had to be restful and evocative, without being too chatty. Her request led to this child’s face on which a butterfly has landed, “symbolising the passage from one cycle to another.” This is the first ceramic piece Jade and Maxime made four years ago, and it crops up again and again in the studio’s temporary collections. A lovely demonstration of timelessness by Bello et Bello. •