MARIANNE GUÉLY Using paper made at the famous mills of Arches, France, this fashion world darling—one of Paris’s preeminent paper artists—pays homage to the Harcourt glass with sculptures of incredible lightness, precision and delicacy. "A cloud of splintered paper stems from windmill-like blades as they intermingle with each other, creating a feeling of temporary equilibrium." Paper artist Marianne Guély has been collaborating with Baccarat since 2005, when she created a beguiling setting for the company based on Beauty and the Beast. She transformed the company’s Parisian maison with an installation of thorny rosebushes that climbed the grand structure’s central staircase, along with a thicket of black grass surrounding a 30-foot-long crystal table in its ballroom. From this charmed beginning, various Baccarat projects followed, including window displays for its Place de la Madeleine store and the decoration of an opulent Christmas table in the maison’s crystal room. With a particularly wonderful installation, she also set the scene for the launch of Baccarat’s fragrance, Rouge 540. Beyond her work for Baccarat, Guély has provided poetic settings for the boutiques and events of other renowned clients in Paris, London, New York, Beijing and Tokyo: golden rain for Christian Dior, cascades of lilies for Cartier, a dreamlike jungle for Printemps, rosebushes for Roger Vivier. Paper persists as her predominant medium of choice. Born in 1967, Guély graduated from the prestigious École des Arts et Métiers d’Art, in Paris, and today runs her own studio. For her work, she received the prestigious Talent de l’Originalité award at the Sommet du Luxe et de la Création in 2004.
