Working out of her small apartment in an old building in the Marais, Paris’s stylish fourth arrondissement (district), Pagnoux synthesizes pop culture references and illustrative elements into striking images for advertising agencies, publishers—and soon, she hopes—record labels. The Marais, a central neighborhood with winding streets lined with tiny shops and chic cafés, is the perfect walking neighborhood: Everywhere one looks there is color and design. The city’s oldest Jewish neighborhood, the Marais has become the gay quarter of Paris. “There are a lot of galleries and fashion designers’ shops near my home, and there are the Musée Picasso and the Centre Pompidou. I like these two places,” she says with enthusiasm. “I love huge towns—that’s where I find myself better.”

One corkscrews up four steep flights of stairs to find Pagnoux’s neat, organized apartment. A hall lined with art and books leads to the living room where there’s a couch in front of a wall of books (from which Pagnoux draws down titles over the course of our conversation), and a small table and chairs. There is a sense of order, a readiness for creative flights of fancy in the small adjoining office. Her friendly cat, Zoe, follows her about from room to room.

She has achieved modest success for having only worked as a graphic designer little more than a year. Pagnoux’s work has been published in Digit in London and Atomica in the U.S., among other titles. She considers the ads she designed for Le Coq Sportif Asia (a sports clothing line) “the most important thing I’ve made for the moment.” In May 2005 she signed with illustrators’ agent, Marie et Nous (translated it means Marie and us, but says Pagnoux, “In French it sounds like marry us!”).

Illustration for the article “A Cup of Joe” for Atomica Magazine (USA), Edited in April 2006. MODEL: Maryel Ferraud.

“I always loved to create stuff, making collages with pictures when I was a kid,” says the shy, soft-spoken 30-year-old, who was born in Le Plessis Bouchard, 20 kilometers from Paris, but grew up in nearby Brive-la-Gaillarde. “I discovered computers at the same time I was learning photography. I collaborated with another photographer [Sophie Etchart] for two years and we worked for the French press like Studio magazine [the cultural web magazine], Chronic’art, and Mad Movies. Our name was Julles et Julles,” she relates. Exhibiting her sly sense of humor, the name is a play on Truffaut’s 1962 film Jules et Jim, about a love triangle between two friends and an impulsive woman. It’s also an homage to the photographers Pierre et Gilles, whose work Pagnoux and Etchart love.

After that she decided to ditch photography and went to school, studying graphic design at Autograph in Paris, where she learned Photoshop, Illustrator, and other software programs to perfect her technique.

“Design is really my way to express what I’m feeling. Most of the time I work with Sophie. I’ve made some photographs, but it was evident to me that it was not possible to create what was in my mind with a camera only. I began to work with a computer, and realized instantly that was what I wanted to do,” Pagnoux explains. “I wanted to recreate what I made when I was a kid, but with a computer.

“Photographs are extremely important. I lean hugely on them, particularly on the glances [of the subjects]. It’s that connection that makes the final image strong,” she says. “What I love in my work is that we are self-contained; we can do [our work] everywhere. All we need is a computer, a scanner, a ‘graphic palette.’ I like to be alone in front of my computer with music.”

A multinational blend of music styles provides aural inspiration: Musicians Pagnoux listens to when she’s at work (and play) include Mano Solo, Manu Chao, Placebo, R.E.M., Björk, Garbage, Tricky, Massive Attack, Jamie Cullum, Nouvelle Vague, Madonna, [Serge] Gainsbourg, [Les] Rita Mitsouko, Renaud, Chopin. Pagnoux adds, “I love Spanish music, such as [Flamenco vocalist] El Camarón de la Isla. I’m very eclectic!”

Her design tastes are as diverse as her musical ones. “My favorite graphic designers are Julie Verhoeven, Vault49, Seb Jarnot, and M/M,” says Pagnoux. “I have a lot of respect for David Carson’s work and I love Jules Arthur’s artwork.” It’s telling that her selection of designers includes mostly individuals whose talents cross boundaries between fashion, design, and illustration.

BREAKING BOUNDARIES
“Sandrine Pagnoux is part of the expressionist and a bit of the post-punk movement, but her stylish portraits exude more elegance and poetry than the politically or culturally minded designs that we often see in France,” says Adigard. “This generation of designers breaks the boundaries between typography, imagery, and texture, hence moving toward fine arts and away from communication design. In an age when designers are more concerned with technology, it is refreshing to see how Sandrine’s alchemy can invoke the sensuality and drama of everyday life.”

For now, Pagnoux is content, working in her cozy apartment close to the cultural beacon of the Beauborg, listening to music and venturing out into the ancient stone streets to look for the latest Miss Tic graffiti. “I wish to keep developing my own style,” she says. “The most important thing for me, before everything, is to have fun. I try to surprise myself each time—to be renewed, to step forward. Later I would like to take time to create more elements of my work, like my own typography.”

SANDRINE PAGNOUX | www.sandrinepagnoux.com

For more information on French design visit www.daviddesign.com/inspire-grapus or read Alain Weill’s Graphic Design: A History, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2004, www.hnabooks.com.