STRATES — 10th Anniversary, October-November 2025
To celebrate its tenth anniversary, PHILIA presents STRATES, a major exhibition in Noisy-le-Grand from October 28 to November 30, 2025. The project unfolds across two emblematic brutalist landmarks: the Mont d’Est parking structure by Jacques Kalisz and in Ricardo Bofill’s iconic Espaces Abraxas.
This anniversary exhibition carries special significance: each PHILIA artist will present one iconic piece created for the gallery in the past decade, retracing its story and legacy. Together, these works — from monumental sculptures to radical design experiments — embody ten years of dialogue between art, design, and architecture. This retrospective constellation conceived for STRATES will resonate with the concrete spirals of Kalisz’s parking and the Abraxas architecture, balancing memory and projection.
CERAMIC ART FAIR,Latin American House, Paris, October 2025
Stripping away the form and getting to the essence of the material to rediscover the beauty of the gesture and its slow temporality, contrary to contemporary modes of production.
Today more than ever, in an era of technologies that replace manual labor, it seems to me that this ancestral gesture of working the land is a form of resistance.
The unpredictability of the kiln shapes each creation, giving it a dimension
unique.
Starting with the archetype of the lamp (two cylinders: a base and a lampshade), I practice unlearning in order to simplify the form. In the first phase of drawing, I essentialize the line by drawing on archaic forms.
In fact, each sculpture is an attempt to capture this line: for the Giverny model, I found my formal language in the misalignment of large primitive forms (approximately 1m high).
With each lamp presented here, I seek a new, subtle imbalance, which resides in this blind spot: the slightly incoherent assembly.
of the two forms which creates an architecture in an almost precarious balance.
It is a diversion, like an anachronism in the middle of a generic and timeless form.
The chemistry of enamel is a long process that gives me the impression
of a quest for the ideal painting: more than just colors that I apply, I see this
a step like searching for an image. The second firing is
the opportunity to reintroduce volume, through the unexpected action of mixing
oxides and silica.
The final stage involves the decorative arts: concealing the light at
hollows in a sculpture, to reveal the roughness of the earth.
RED STORY, THEMA, Palais Brognard, Paris, October 2025
The true color of things is red."Elsa told me." She always has been.
The first humans of ancient times, don't think their skin was the color of flesh. They covered themselves with an earthy red, primitive skin, the first medium, because the first color in the history of humanity had to be applied somewhere, so on this, on me. And it's true, I see it now: the curves of Elsa's sculptures reproduce exactly the movements of an unholy dance, that of the paleo-woman signaling herself, protecting herself, and adorning herself with red.
Elsa's red is the color of the first dance in the theater of walls, themselves reddened, of the caves, those where the negative hands greet you. Don't think for a moment that their walls were white, she told me. Even if the facades of their temples have come down to us faded, and when we dream of Antiquity, it always dazzles us a little because of the Greek sun beating down hard on that immaculate white, a divine white like Apollo's perfect backside. No, everything was already in color, but above all
Red! A red as ancient as the flames that lick the earth in the kiln of his workshop.
Now, Elsa lines up her luminous shapes in an intimate setting of red felt. Her red has traveled through time: the caves have become temples, which have become Pompeian villas where one contemplates for long minutes the reflections of the water in the basin in the atrium, she reflects the undulating yellow-orange light of her torches arranged all around.
It's the red of the last day in Pompeii, in the house of the tragic poet. A Vesuvian red. The color is complex: it comes from a mineral, cinnabar, extracted from distant Spanish mines, and from which the price is equal to that of Alexandria blue"This is what you absolutely must know about cinnabar," wrote Pliny the Elder, who so loved to compare the value of the color of things. "It is more dangerous than precious. When this red is not used for the fabric that cinches Achilles' V-shaped waist in the frescoes of the poet's chamber, it is a deadly poison." Bad for the internal organs, Pliny wrote. Elsa tells me about that August evening when, gently and in the distance, lava flows and slightly warms the cinnabar on the walls of the tragic poet's house. His guests inhale fumes of madness. They dance strangely. And it's true, I see now: that the red of Elsa's torches is the same red that precedes the pyroclastic flows of Pompeii.
The end and the renewal, it is the red of the last night, and that of the first dance.
Text by Lise Kervennic
REVERIES, NYCxDESIGN Festival, NY, May 2025
The Reveries perfectly capture the essence of Elsa Foulon’s work. This exhibition invites viewers to step into a dreamlike world where organic forms and sculptural beauty come together, blurring the line between art and design. Through The Reveries, Elsa explores the beauty of the fleeting moment, inviting contemplation on the delicate balance between thought and creation. The soft, flowing lines of her ceramics are not merely objects—they are meditations on space, light, and texture.
Elsa Foulon, originally from a background in the world of 20th-century decorative arts, has established herself as a visionary designer in the realm of contemporary ceramics. With a self-taught approach and by combining her expertise in design with her artistic sensibility, Elsa creates sculptures that are both striking and delicate, each piece revealing the intricate relationship between material, meaning, and form.
In the serenity of her Parisian studio, Elsa embraces the ancient gestures of ceramic craftsmanship, working with clay to create works that are as much about the process as the final object. The unpredictability of the kiln shapes each creation, adding a unique dimension to the pieces. Light is often hidden within the hollows of her sculptures, subtly illuminating the rough textures of the clay, and highlighting the tactile beauty of the material while evoking a sense of intimacy and wonder.
The Reveries is an invitation to lose oneself in the dreamlike realm of Elsa Foulon’s ceramics, where contemporary design meets timeless craftsmanship.
MODERN DREAMS, CHAMAGNE GALLERY, PARIS DECO OFF 2025
God is dead, long live my dreams. May Elsa keep them.
In a sacred piece of furniture
In a world without God. Elsa tries, she tries.
Where early humans preserved the earth covering the bodies of saints
Where parents keep their children's first baby tooth
Where children keep the pebbles that bear the face of their mothers
Where Elsa keeps my thoughts at night.
She keeps them behind ceramic doors shaped like what they contain.
Our dreams, the furrows of an ancient torrent, the traces left by the day,
Dreams, and their horizons that are not straight, not flat
Like the features of your faces, like the sound of your voices.
In the past, we used to fuck ancient DNA on a crown of thorns.
To kiss a piece of eternity, to devour the body of one's son.
But God is dead and I'm still dreaming.
Now Elsa tries, she tries
May our innermost beings be sanctified and may our dreams come to Him.
Even when the
The sleep of reason breeds monsters..
El sueno de la razón produces monstrosities.
Even the degenerate monsters, the Angel of the Hearth who crushes you
The thousands of doors vainly opened to the sky,
And my distorted body at the bottom of an endless hole,
Even the silent tornado, which threatens from afar but never arrives
All enclosed within this irregular pentagon,
On all five sides, like your five senses abolished by sleep
Thus, the shimmering surfaces of the reliquary reflect the sound of your silenced fears.
Elsa
preserves
In the sacred furniture of a world without God.
Text by Lise Kervennic
PARIS DESIGN WEEK, SCHUMACHER X PHILIA, Paris, September 2025
On the occasion of Paris Design Week, from September 5 to 14, 2024, PHILIA and Schumacher are pleased to invite Elsa Foulon to an exceptional exhibition in which the delicacy of Schumacher textiles enhances the timeless beauty of Elsa Foulon‘s ceramics.
It is within the setting of the Schumacher showroom located at 9 Rue Jacob in the 6th arrondissement of Paris that Elsa Foulon and PHILIA – an international gallery specializing in contemporary collectible design – have chosen to immerse Schumacher in the heart of an artistic odyssey.
This exhibition project marked by elegance and poetry, will be an opportunity to present exclusive creations by the Parisian designer and ceramicist, entirely covered with Schumacher fabrics. Founded in 1889, the Schumacher House today boasts more than 15,000 references in fabrics, wallpapers, and decorative accessories and enjoys worldwide renown thanks to the quality and great diversity of its designs. Inspired by nature and Schumacher’s organic patterns, Elsa Foulon sought to echo the veins of stone and the undulations of the sea. She will present a selection of lamps, some reaching up to 1.7 meters in height, airy suspensions, as well as elegant stools.
These pieces, both bold and harmonious, promise a striking visual experience. A true dialogue between materials and forms, the magic of this exhibition lies in the encounter between refined textures, soft colors of the textiles, and the sculptural shapes of the ceramics. Carefully chosen by Elsa Foulon, the subtle shades of Schumacher fabrics “Orissa | Alabaster” and “Orissa | Blue & Natural” perfectly match the curves of the light fixtures, while the “Cloud Toile | Deft” fabric adds a touch of lightness and softness to the stool cushions.
Through this scenography, Elsa Foulon and PHILIA weave a poetic link between fabric and ceramics, creating a universe where every detail invites meditation and contemplation. This collaboration between formal elegance and sensuality offers us a beautiful escape toward a bit of serenity.
NAKED FEAST, MILAN DESIGN WEEK, April 2024
Dream of a Naked Lunch (after Naked Lunch)
Night has fallen, the guests will be here soon.
From the back of the room emanates the smell of hot clay: it's the fire of a dinner to come. Elsa, the fiery lady, is preparing a feast of a new kind.
She covers her table with an unknown black substance, identical to celestial bodies from which light does not escape.
A deceptive sheet that will first solidify into a delicate fold but will absorb all desire for an artificial ideal. The somber black will be this cruel antagonist, producing a movement opposed to that of Elsa: it will be the nothingness upon which she will place everything.
At the gates of a concrete bastide, Elsa hears the growing sound of a crowd soon to arrive. They are hungry. She walks towards the fire and says: tonight, they will dine on the light.PARIS
From a chrome-plated kiln at extreme temperatures, she now extracts the food, its earthen torches with vibrant curves, their irregular chamotte grain, a surface as pristine as that of the first stone of the Universe. In the center of the table, she places twelve still-smoking candelabras.
They arrived famished. Eyes wide open, they devoured the light, oblivious to the endless dialogue between the creator and her material. It was time for the Naked Feast: that petrified, icy moment when everyone could see what lay on the end of each fork.
With the crowd illuminated, Elsa returns to her workshop.
FUTURS RELICS, RESIDENCY MEDICIS ARCHIVES PROJECT
PHILIA / Florence, Italy, January 2024
PHILIA is pleased to present Future Relics, an ambitious research program and exhibition taking place at the 16th-century Palazzo Corsini al Prato, in the heart of Florence. Rooted in extensive research, the show brings together a group of internationally renowned designers who were invited to create works inspired by the rich, cultural heritage of Medici Florence.
In collaboration with researchers and academics specialized in the Medici archives, the selected designers have delved into the vast archival holdings of Renaissance Florence to explore the concept of a ‘future relic’. The relics of Medici Florence, ranging from precious objects in the Treasury of San Lorenzo to exotic treasures from global connections, serve as touchstones for this exploration. Examining the local craftsmanship and diverse techniques of the time, the project challenges artists to draw inspiration from the past while creating contemporary works that resonate both locally and globally, symbolically and conceptually.
The five selected designers – Elsa Foulon, Kar, Laura Pasquino, Morghen Studio, and Pierre de Valck – questioned how we can envision ‘relics of the future’ in a secular contemporary world.
French ceramicist Elsa Foulon will present ‘Relic of the Future,’ a sculptural lacquered cabinet made with wood and ceramic doors inlaid with pyrite nuggets inspired by Italian Renaissance reliquaries. The piece explores the concept of a relic and contemporary perspectives on what we choose to protect today.
CONTRASTS, PAD LONDON, October 2023
Berkeley Square, Mayfair, London W1
Booth Number A1
10-15 October 2023
DESACRALIZED, MILAN DESIGN WEEK, PHILIA, April 2023
For the 2023 edition of Milan Design Week, Galerie Philia is delighted to present Desacralized, an offsite exhibition featuring over 20 established and emerging international designers, each exploring the concept of desacralisation.
Staged in San Vittore e 40 Martiri, a deconsecrated church located in the centre of Milan, Desacralized is the first major exhibition to take place in this space. Most recently, it was used as a basketball court and Playground.
It is this long and rich history and, most notably, the transformation of the church into a secular building that has inspired Galerie Philia to conceive this exhibition. Each designer was invited to give their personal interpretation of the notion of desacralization and take inspiration from objects which formerly had religious associations and have now become solely functional, serving our everyday life. The only imperative the group collectively agreed on was that the works created should be entirely white.
In her abstract light sculptures, Elsa Foulon explores the use of seashells, a motif omnipresent in the iconography of Christianity and the history of art.