The IRIS project told by Natacha Birds

Reading time: 4 min

AN ARTIST'S UNIVERSE TRANSLATED INTO LIGHT

In 2024, Romain Gratiot, designer and founder of Irrational Flames , wanted to put his skills at the service of other artists to create objects with four hands. The first to respond to this call was Natacha Birds .

Together, they imagined IRIS : a light fixture born from the encounter between his pictorial universe and the possibilities offered by 3D printing.

In this interview, Natacha looks back on this adventure, on what the IRIS project brought to her artistic practice, and on the emotion felt the day she saw her universe embodied as an object .

What made you want to collaborate with Irrational Flames?

" For a long time, I've wanted to collaborate on design, and more specifically on lighting. For me, light has this unique power to enhance a work and give it a new dimension, and it's also a major subject that we find in my paintings. When I discovered IRRATIONAL FLAMES' work on Instagram, I was immediately touched by the alliance between poetry and craftsmanship, by this ability to transform light into an object of art. Very quickly, I felt the urge to associate my paintings with this luminous universe, as if it were obvious. The idea of ​​making my colors and patterns interact with sculptural and organic forms immediately inspired me. It was a dream opportunity to push my artistic practice further, by exploring a new way of bringing my works to life through light.

How has this collaboration enriched your artistic practice?

“Moving from a two-dimensional painting to a three-dimensional object was an incredibly enriching experience. It was like seeing my works come to life in a new form, almost as if a fragment of my paintings had become real. The light, the volumes, the perspectives… all of this transformed the way I imagined my creations. I felt as if I was giving body to my motifs, giving them a physical and tangible existence, beyond the canvas. It was a new way of bringing my artistic universe to life.”

Is there a moment, an exchange or an aspect of the project that particularly struck you?

“Without a doubt, the most memorable moment was seeing the finished object. After going through the idea stage, then the sketch, and seeing the 3D model take shape, finally holding the actual object in my hands was an almost surreal moment. But it was when I turned on the lamp for the first time that the emotion really took on its full magnitude. Seeing the colors unfold through the light, changing appearance depending on its intensity… it was magical. This moment gave meaning to the collaboration. It revealed a new dimension to my work, and new inspirations for the future color ranges of my paintings.”

-Natacha Birds, for Irrational Flames

Discover the project IRIS → ALL IRIS OBJECTS

Visit Natacha Birds ' website → SEE THE ARTIST'S WEBSITE