Isabelle Rivoire-Grange is a Parisian freelance graphic designer and art director in the fashion and luxury industry. Her clients include companies such as Kenzo, Issey Miyake, Narciso Rodriguez.
“My interests include music, science, justice, animals, shapes, feelings, fashion, arts. I am addicted to running, fruits, and love. Also, I can talk to ants. That’s a lot of lists but focusing on only one specific field would be very boring!”
Isabelle also designs objects, that have been retailed in select stores like Colette, Excelsior in Milan, Palais de Tokyo, OFR, French Trotters, Le Bon Marché and Kapok in Hong Kong. These basic yet meaningful artefacts are made in France with a traditional “savoir-faire.”Her brand SLOW SOUP is in continuity with this approach.
Isabelle’s #BEYOUROWN BOSS Story
My visual arts activity is what I started first since I studied fine arts. I currently work freelance as an illustrator and art director in both fashion and luxury industries, with clients such as Kenzo, Issey Miyake, Narciso Rodriguez, L’Oreal, LVMH and more. I’d define my style as colourful, soft and harmonious, yet sometimes provocative.
Slow Soup is an original concept about Slow Life with a strong and optimistic parti pris, created in 2016. Everything is developed in-house from product design to web design, communication and editorial content. Slow
Life is not about laying on a couch all day long nor going back to the middle ages. It is more about slowing down on the superficial and pay attention to essential details to enjoy every moment at its fullest.
The products are designed in order to brighten up the most simple and important actions in life: eat, sleep, make love: hand-painted vintage bowls, zero waste bags to carefully shop for veggies and fruits, extra sweet pillowcases for slow sleep, and for slow sex: extra cute condoms packed in an eco-friendly box. They are sold on the e-boutique and in very select stores across the world. This project brings the joy of experimenting new ways of creating, sustainable sourcing and one of a kind branding. It’s more than a brand, it’s a lifestyle.
Music has always been a passion. I studied classical music theory when I was a child, so I naturally started selecting and DJing under the name ‘Isa Air’. My inspirations are eclectic and I like to fluidly match all kinds of styles. I have played in venues such as Hotel Martinez in Cannes, The Friend in Los Angeles, Baby’s All Right in New York, La Fabrica in Treviso, Italy, Hôtel National des Arts et Métiers, Le Bon Marché and Le Printemps department stores in Paris. I also curate sound design for fashion shows. I never really decided to make it a business, it just happened and I can’t complain.
In addition, I curate a culture blog about sustainability in fashion, arts, entertainment, lifestyle, and design. Smile and Save the Planet is the most idealistic hippie part of me, it isn’t profitable but I feel as though I have to do something about environmental issues. It’s small, but at least I’m doing my part.
I was born in the countryside near Lyon, France and have a very strong bond with nature. I naturally feel connected to the earth we live on and grow food in. But as every curious person I need my everyday dose of adventure and social connections. That’s why I travelled quite a lot and lived in big cities like New York and Paris. I even spent two and a half years without a proper home after selling my Paris apartment. I really enjoyed the nomadic life, especially at the beginning. It was very inspiring, both for my design projects, the music sessions and the eco-friendly field. But I’ve started to feel frustrated as it’s difficult to work when everything is scattered and you can’t really get organised. I consequently decided to settle down, and I hesitated between LA, Dakar, Italian Riviera and other places I can’t even remember of. Finally, as I wanted to be close enough to my family I’ve chosen a charming house in Normandy. It’ll be a base in which I’ll create a space to work as I want to go back to serious graphics and illustration, as well as music and eco-friendly research.
I would like it to be a hub for photo shoots, brainstorming sessions, yoga retreats, dance and triathlon sessions, and whatever we can think about, as long as it is fun and creative. My architect friend and I are working on the renovation, so it should be quite cool. When I’m there I’ll be able to run in open nature every day, swim in the ocean, bike in the middle of amazing landscapes, grow my own food, compost, ferment lots of weird stuff. As it is close to Paris, and I’m still very much in love with Paris, I’ll visit often to DJ, work and meet my folks.
Amongst the other things I want to achieve in the future, there is music production, the writing and design of an art book about slow life, but the biggest project is to create a ‘slow design’ studio. I want it to be more than an agency. It will be a collective that offers companies to develop with new creative perspectives. Dedicated, yet flexible, optimistic yet responsive, pioneer, fun, creative, and generous. I think this approach is the future of creative business.
Time and organisation have always been challenging, especially since I work within many business segments. However, my biggest challenge so far has been to merge both profit and ethics. I’ve turned down lucrative job offers from companies that did not fill my ethical requirements. I always preferred mindfulness over the business and it means I somehow don’t make a lot of money but at least my mind is at peace.
I definitely hope there will be a change in every level of society concerning women’s rights and opportunities. Altogether and all genders, we have to raise awareness about inequalities and violence. Once someone is conscious of a specific problem they will take action and change. I have the feeling that sexism is still not truly considered as an issue but I trust the movement is on its way. I hope the 21st century will see as many women at the top, whether it’s in politics, business, art, sports, fashion, gastronomy or tech industries. We need to support women at every stage in their life. It’s challenging but worth it.
So far when you’re a female boss it means you have to work 30% more to get the same result and I assume this gap will be filled in the future. One day, to BEYOUROWN Boss will soon mean the same whether you’re a woman or a man.
What I also feel about the next trends is the cohabitation of hyper-technology and very low tech practices. A lot of emerging successful companies today sell high end handmade goods for instance. It appears to me that we can’t go without technology because it obviously means progress. But as we are starting to understand how it can affect our lives and every stage of economy, we might want to take the good part of it but get away from the inconvenient part.
So we probably will have to promptly adapt to cutting-edge innovation and in the meantime be able to withdraw from overwhelming social networks and privacy-threatening tools. We might want to slow down on the virtual and go back to real life experiences. It’s true at a personal level, but also in terms of business. It might be a question of survival!
In any case, to #BEYOUROWN BOSS in the 21st century means to make choices according to your heart. Listening to our true feelings instead of data analysis, that should remain a basic requirement.
Instagram: @isa__air @smileandsavetheplanet @slowsoup
Website: http://isa-rg.com/ http://www.irivoiregrange.com/ http://slow-soup.com/ http://isaair.com/
Image by Eve Prangey
