​Marie Christine Dorner

 

Interior architect, designer, scenographer

A multicultural « French Touch » artist with a perfectionistic hand gesture that allies traditional savoir-faire with leading edge technology.

 

From bespoke pieces to widely distributed objects, from private spaces to professional ones, Marie Christine Dorner implements the same strategy: Nurturing her projects with meticulous planning and careful consideration of the relationships between the human beings and their natural environment in an open and pluralised world.

 

This consistency in her creative process, combined with her sensitivity for the traditional savoir-faire, translates into projects covering all fields of creative design. Marie Christine has completed many works in many areas of the creative spectrum, namely: interior architecture (private residences but also boutiques and restaurants), outdoor urban design, scenography, furniture (edited by Montis, Ligne Roset and Zeus), tableware, jewellery and lightings (edited by Cristalleries de Saint-Louis, Baccarat and Bernardaud).

 

She flawlessly combines elegance and refinement, which embodies the soul of true French creativity, coupled with contributions from other major cultures in the art of living, and translates into a very unique energy that sets her aside from those around her.

 

By all accounts a globetrotter, her journeys have shaped her career. At the age of 25, she decided to travel around the world, starting her voyage in Tokyo. Here she spent a year, absorbing the culture and courtesy to a life-changing meeting with Teruo Kurosaki, founder and director of Idee, a reference in the field of international design. She was asked to design a range of furniture. Her first collection of origami inspired metal pieces of furniture was exhibited soon after and received high acclaim in Japan and elsewhere. Philippe Starck wrote the introduction to the catalogue of the exhibition.

 

Back in Paris in 1987, she started her own design business again and quickly became a leading figure in the new wave of French design. She completed the renovation and refurbishment of the hotel La Villa in Saint Germain des Prés, the first resolutely contemporary hotel in Paris, followed by the restaurant of the famous Comédie Française. In 1990, she won the competition to design a new presidential stand for the military parade on the Bastille Day in Paris, for which she has been responsible for the project management every year since. Again in an urban space, she also designed a bus station hub and a range of furniture in Nimes.

 

In 1996, she settled down in London, cosmopolitan city par excellence, where she stayed for 12 years. At this time and in parallel with her international creative work, Ron Arad asked her to teach at the Royal College of Art. She has held many teaching positions since then, in many different Art & Design universities, including ESAD Reims and the École Camondo in Paris, where she still works today.

 

Back in Paris in 2008, she set up her new company dorner design, located today on rue Saint-Dominique, surrounded some of Paris most distinguished cultural places.

 

Marie Christine Dorner graduated, with honours, from the École Camondo in Paris in 1984, was awarded the “Grand Prix du Design” in 1995 and “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” medal by Frédéric Mitterrand, French Minister of Culture in 2012.