Studio Marlène Huissoud.
Introducing the third interview in Unity of Nature, our captivating new interview series that delves into the cutting edge of nature-inspired art and design. Hosted by acclaimed design scientist Dr. Melissa Sterry, and sponsored by bio-innovation consultancy Bioratorium®, the series spotlights both emerging and established creative talents that are collaborating with living organisms like fungi, lichen, algae and trees to craft groundbreaking works that blur the lines between art, science, and sustainability. Each interview offers a fascinating glimpse into how nature can inspire bold, innovative solutions to the great environmental and social challenges of our time. Welcome to a world where art and design come alive.
Q&A with Marlène Huissoud
We’re delighted to feature the extraordinary Marlène Huissoud, an experimental designer and artist who has built a remarkable career exploring the boundaries of art, design, and innovation. A graduate of Central Saint Martins’ MA Material Futures program, she gained recognition with her project From Insects, which explored natural materials derived from honeybees and silkworms.
Marlène’s work challenges conventional ideas of material use and design, blending Nature’s organic chaos with humanity’s search for order. Her purposeful creations inspire reflection on our ecological impact and whether human interference helps or harms the planet. By inviting us to reconsider our relationship with the natural world, her designs are as thought-provoking as they are innovative.
With accolades including the Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris and exhibitions at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Centre Pompidou, and Design Miami, Marlène’s influence is felt worldwide. In this exclusive conversation, we delve into her creative philosophy, exploring how her fearless approach continues to redefine contemporary design.
WHAT FIRST INSPIRED YOU TO COLLABORATE WITH INSECTS?
Definitely my childhood, I grew up in a family of beekeepers and bee lovers and this shaped my practice a lot. I would also say the invisibility of minorities. All my work is looking at empowering the presence of insects in our daily life. As Humans we took so much space on this planet, and the next goal for us is to slow down urgently, and to start a discussion with other species.
HAS WORKING WITH INSECTS TRANSFORMED THE WAY YOU PERCEIVE AND APPROACH THE ART AND FUNCTION OF DESIGN?
When your client is the insect, you must put in a certain level of analysis. You have to collaborate with entomologists and other with scientists, and with farmers to try to understand the needs of the insects. Working with them has completely reshaped my approach to art and design, as we want everything to be functional for insects. Their needs and languages are so abstract for humans, still.
BEES AND OTHER INSECTS HAVE THEIR OWN SYSTEMS OF ORGANISATION AND CREATION. HOW DO THEIR NATURAL BEHAVIOURS SHAPE YOUR WORK?
I have drawn since a very young age, and I have always had this obsession with drawing repetitive and obsessional symmetric shapes that are very similar to insect patterns. This tendency came viscerally without me being able to control it. I don’t really know what is controlled and uncontrolled anymore.
INSECTS ARE OFTEN UNDERVALUED DESPITE THEIR CRITICAL ROLE IN THE ECOSYSTEMS. HOW DOES YOUR WORK SEEK TO CHANGE PERCEPTIONS OF THESE CREATURES IN SOCIETY?
Completely, most of the time insects generate fear in humans. I have developed an aesthetic which is very instinctive, but very connected to this issue. The work is simultaneously cute, yet at the same time it’s a bit scary. But once more, this is not controlled. The work seems to be alive, and it smells as well, creating another experiential dimension to the work of art.
HOW DOES YOUR COLLABORATION WITH INSECTS ADDRESS ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS, PARTICULARLY IN RELATION TO BIODIVERSITY AND SUSTAINABLE DESIGN PRACTICES?
I would say that like every artist and designer that I know, my ethical ground is evolving day by day. But I have always been very critical of our surroundings. I see my work in two parts, one which is more material based, and which wants to empathise the presence of insects by celebrating their importance. Another which is a more direct answer to our loss of biodiversity, and where I try to give space back to other species.
HOW DO YOU NAVIGATE THE TENSION BETWEEN GUIDING THE PROCESS AND ALLOWING THE INSECTS TO WORK ORGANICALLY?
I’m not here to impose anything on the insects. I’m just presenting them with possibilities that have been developed based on my analysis of their tastes and their behaviours. I’m a guide and like my practice, I don’t have the control, and I don’t want the control of the insects’ choices: a true interspecies collaboration.
HOW DO FRENCH ART AND DESIGN TRADITIONS, AS WELL AS YOUR TIME IN LONDON, INFLUENCE YOUR PERSPECTIVE WHEN CREATING PIECES THAT ARE SO DEEPLY CONNECTED TO NATURE?
London gave me the freedom – the real creative freedom. When you study there, there is always a path for experimentation, and it is so crucial to have that experimentation and to be able to fail and then take back a bit of strength. In the fragility of failure, you learn how to succeed.
France gave me the opportunity to always reconsider this freedom, and to always question myself. To ask, what do I do, what makes sense, do we really need this on Earth?
WHAT MATERIALS OR TECHNIQUES DO YOU USE IN TANDEM WITH THE INSECTS’ CONTRIBUTIONS, AND HOW DO THEY COMPLEMENT ONE ANOTHER?
I often work with materials that insects have co-created. For example, I use some of their leftovers to make the work, such as the bee bio resin, or the fibres of the silkworms. In all the techniques I’m using I’m just proposing materials in a new way to suggest a habitat or an insect presence.
HOW DO YOU RECONCILE THE CONCEPT OF LUXURY WITH THE INHERENTLY UNPREDICTABLE AND ORGANIC NATURE OF WORKING WITH LIVING CREATURES?
It is alive. It is not there anymore to just make a statement, but it is adding a new vision and connection to the world of nature. The pieces live outside, they age, they answer to the natural circle, and they host the life of insects. Luxury must adapt, and it must open its arms to living organisms, which necessitates the start of a real dialogue with the natural world if we are to survive.
WHAT HAVE BEEN SOME OF THE GREATEST CHALLENGES AND MOST REWARDING BREAKTHROUGHS IN CREATING PIECES IN COLLABORATION WITH INSECTS?
Some of the most rewarding breakthroughs have been when insects like the habitats I create for them, and when they then change them by inhabiting them. When the time is passing, and the work is alive. When the small is empowering the space of an institution. When humans say they change their way of seeing insects by looking at the work. When humans are touched and want to make things differently. When there is hope for a future world in which we all live harmoniously.
CO-CREATING WITH NATURE OFTEN INVOLVES ADAPTING TO ITS RHYTHMS. HOW HAS THIS SLOWER, MORE DELIBERATE PROCESS INFLUENCED YOUR PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY OR YOUR VIEW OF THE FAST-PACED DESIGN WORLD?
I’m getting slower and slower, and more connected to the world around. There is no rush in anything, especially in nature and art. I started my career by saying ‘yes’ a lot, and now I am a lot more considered in what I choose to do. I ask, is an opportunity in line with my values? Does it make sense? I have learned to say ‘no’, which seemed very important to me to be fully connected to my practice and my authenticity. Slowing down has been the best process of my career so far. Winters are a great tool for me to rethink what I do, I question myself all the time, asking what is wrong and what is right. This balance really helps to slow down and to be connected to nature as much as possible.
WHERE DO YOU SEE YOUR WORK EVOLVING IN THE FUTURE, AND HOW DO YOU HOPE IT WILL CONTRIBUTE TO BROADER CONVERSATIONS ABOUT THE ROLE OF NATURE IN DESIGN AND ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP?
Since I started my practice 12 years ago, the scale of the work has increased a lot, which has created the possibility for the insect populations I work with to have a strong presence in this typically human dominated world. My next goal is to create a monument – a human-scale monument for insects in the Alps, which is where I relocated to recently. Going back to the roots of my childhood.
edited by Melissa Sterry