Monday 3 February 2014
L’Hommage:
Omar Sosa on Nathalie Du Pasquier

L’Hommage is an interview series about people who highlight and promote people they admire and their work, thus spreading their inspiration.

Omar Sosa is an art director, designer, and one of the founders of now world-renowned interiors magazine Apartamento – which often features creatives and their homes and workspaces. One of the people who’s been featured in the magazine is Nathalie Du Pasquier, who’s coming to Stockholm for the Hall of Femmes seminar on February 3.

We called Omar up, on a busy day in Apartamento’s Barcelona office, to find out more about his projects with Nathalie.

Tell us about how you first came in contact with Nathalie.

In 2009 I saw some paintings she had made – they were still lifes, peculiar arrangements of little objects. They were just beautiful and I told the gang at Apartamento about it. A few days later I found out that she was one of the founders of the influential Memphis Group in the eighties – I didn’t even know about that part of her work at first.

Apartamento co-hosted an exhibition of Nathalie’s in 2011; featured an interview with her in issue #8; you collaborated on a design project of playing cards; and now you’re finishing a book on her drawings. What intrigues you about her work?

Her paintings were my first interest. She sometimes says that designing and painting involve different parts of her brain. But what interests me most about her work is her way of doing things. She is not about analyzing or planning – she is so immediate about her work, and extremely fast and creative.

I suggested we do a book with her paintings and drawings. Going through her archives has now resulted in a 350 page book with works never yet published or produced. We are now in the process of finding the right publisher. Hopefully, the book will be out in 2014.

What has your acquaintance with Nathalie meant to you as a designer?


Well, she has had an influence on me in the use of color. A while back, most of my designs were in a black-to-white scale. I use color in designs more since I met her.

But, more importantly, she’s had an influence on me as a person. Her fantastic personality is what captures me most. She has such a good energy about her, so fast and productive. She likes to explore things by doing, rather than thinking about them. All that is so inspiring to be around. So her influence on me is more on a personal level.

What part of her work do you think is most relevant today?

Well sure – her pattern and design work as part of the Memphis Group were extremely influential at the time, and continue to be. In the last decade many things reminiscent of that style have been popular, it’s a strong trend. But that’s not what is most prominent about her potential as an artist; her body of work is so much more, she continues to explore. I hope to show that she is continuously developing. I’m very excited to see what she will do in the future.

Tomorrow, Nathalie Du Pasquier is one of the speakers at the seminar »True freedom can only be collective« at Arkitektur- och Designcentrum (The Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design) in Stockholm. Tickets 150 skr available here.