From the French Countryside To MFAH — Paris Aurélie Hoegy’s Living Furniture Weaves Together Cane, Metal & Imagination

Editor’s note: In this PaperCity series dubbed Postcards from Paris, Donatella Benckenstein chronicles her adventures in the French capital. With a Dutch mother and Italian-American diplomat father, Benckenstein was raised all over the world. She was schooled under the French academic and university systems, and anchored herself in Paris, both professionally and privately. Now, this well-traveled sophisticate is back in the City of Lights after living in Houston for more than two decades.

In this story, Benckenstein visits the Paris studio of sculptor Aurélie Hoegy, whose work now appears in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

On a cold, wet Paris morning, I jumped on the metro to Gare du Nord. Then I boarded a train to a small village about an hour away from the city.

As the train rolled through rural stations, I thought about what had led me here: An encounter with the young French artist and sculptor Aurélie Hoegy at the 2023 edition of Maison&Objet, the top design salon in Paris. I was drawn to her exhibit space. It featured several of her creations, striking photographs and samples of the materials she works with — specifically cane stems.

Hoegy told me one of the pieces I had admired, a massive cane sculpture with graceful fluidity, had recently sold to a United States museum. The purchaser was none other than the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, where Wild Fibers Tapestry (2023) is now part of the permanent collection in the new Kinder Building.

Fast forward to 2025. I am on my way to visit Hoegy’s atelier workshop in the French countryside. It’s a spacious building that once housed an equestrian center beside an old mill. Steam puffed from the chimney as I approached, making me think about heat, humidity and the process of bending cane. 

I knocked on the massive metal door. Hoegy answered with her cat Ola on her heels. One of them welcomed me with a warm smile, and the other furtively disappeared, only to reappear out of sheer curiosity within a few minutes.

Upon entering, I found myself in a large, open space with several work stations. I spotted a huge steam machine, stacked with piles of cane, twisting cane vines, metal frameworks, inspiration boards and pieces in various stages of production.

Hoegy offered me a cup of coffee, and we headed into her office. There, a shelf unit held miniature models of her work — each one formed from cane.

The Art of Making Movement Tangible

Hoegy shared her thoughts during this visit to her rural studio, offering a closer look into her unique creative process and philosophy.

Donatella Benckenstein: Tell us a bit about your background?

Aurélie Hoegy: I grew up in the Vercors massif mountains in Southeast France. I studied at the Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands, where I became interested in conceptual design. 

Tell us about your work process?

AH: I’ve always been captivated by movement. Before I began working with cane, I explored how to express movement through my pieces — whether it was light, gesture or the dynamic between object, human and space.

It’s a kind of movement that exists but often goes unnoticed. I try to make that invisible presence tangible. To me, objects are alive, even if we don’t usually see them that way.

During that time, I became interested in how we perceive movement in things we consider inanimate. That led to my black chair project. We constantly move objects around us — like a chair. We touch it all the time, but we don’t really see it.

So I did a workshop with a choreographer. We touched chairs with our eyes closed. Everything became heightened. Suddenly the chair was something you felt — something with presence and meaning.

It raised the questions: What is design? What is a chair?

From Movement to Materials

What inspires your work?

AH: At the beginning, American choreographer William Forsythe and his drawings of dancers in motion were a huge source of inspiration.

These days, I mainly find my inspiration in nature. The movement of the waves, hair, sand dunes — even my cat. Movement is everything. If we don’t move, we’re dead.

There’s a fine line between art and design in what I do, but it’s always important that my objects are usable as well as aesthetically pleasing.

Name an inspiring sculptor or designer from the past?

AH: Issey Miyake. I get a lot of inspiration from fashion, dance, hair styling and art. He is a genius who really understood movement.

How long does it take for you to complete pieces like Wild Fibers Tapestry?

AH: Almost one year. The production process of my work starts with a drawing — not on the computer, but a pencil drawing. Then I build small models on a 3D scale with cane. One of my main tools is a huge steamer I use to shape the cane.

Then I work with a welder on the structural design, mostly made out of metal. He reads my curves and builds the metal framework. Then I nail the individually smoothed cane vines, which I import from Indonesian forest. The MFAH piece required 80,000 fine nails.

What’s ahead for 2025?

AH: Production. Total immersion in my work. I only have one finished piece left, and I need to focus on the production of several more pieces this year. However, I’ll be at Salon Art + Design in New York from November 6 to November 10 with The Spaceless Gallery. 

Aurélie Hoegy’s “Wild Fibers Tapestry” is on view in the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. For more information, go here.