Archives de Motifs Vol. 1 marks a milestone for Lebled Soloviev Editions as the debut title of our new collection exploring pattern, design, and decorative arts. Etienne Viollet is the first in a line of artists to demonstrate that functional art and interior design is every bit as compelling and culturally significant as fine art. Viollet challenges the safety of traditional decorative patterns like the twee Toile de Jouy or William Morris, replacing them with a dark pastoral aesthetic. Hand drawn with Bic pens and using intricate ink hatching, he captures both physical gravity and whimsy, with designs walking the edge between the somber and the absurd. Surreal hybrid forms — such as whale-dragonfly creatures, or animals intertwined with locks and keys — emerge from Violett’s subconscious through his technique of automatic sketching and linguistic word games. The resulting designs are a breathing site of surrealism, elevating a simple decorative surface treatment into an artistic discipline.

French artist and designer Etienne Viollet trained as an illustrator in Nantes. He has spent over a decade designing and shaping hand-crafted vases from paper, printed with his surreal and drawings. Growing up surrounded by the natural world through his parents’ flower business, Viollet developed a deep visual vocabulary rooted in botany and animal forms. His inspiration is drawn from surrealist masters and automatic drawing techniques, where he allows his subconscious to shape the creative path. Doodling with a humble Bic pen on plain cartridge paper, his hand-drawn black-and-white images are then uploaded to a computer and digitally washed with color before being printed.