ENVOLÉE

"A book is a mysterious object ... and once it floats out into the world, anything can happen."

Paul Auster, Leviathan

Who are they destined for, these pages carried off by the wind? What message will be revealed when the lights come on? Is it a call to liberty, hurled down from a balustrade above? A poetry collection that strews its verses across the world? Sketches by a distracted artist, lying forgotten before an open window? Or simply virgin pages awaiting fertilisation?

It's for you to decide. Passage Secret adapts this always unique and personalised creation to the layout and the lighting of the place where it is installed.

Backstory to Envolée

Of the many slightly mad experiences of the two artists, the very first one was: in 2012, they entered into a partnership with the Moulin du Got, a living museum of the printworks at Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, to manufacture a porcelain paper. After several months of research, they achieved their objective: however, it was of questionable value, and the project stopped there.

In 2018, a bookseller approached Passage Secret to design an original ceiling light for his home. Very soon the book theme developed, bringing echoes of the porcelain paper which was lying dormant in old trunks.  A few sketches later, the first Envolée was born.

Around the same time, the association L’Escalier (The Staircase) developed a co-working space at Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat in a medieval building with a listed staircase. To illuminate this unique entrance with a floor to ceiling height of 8 metres, what was needed was... an Envolée!