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Fabien Roy was born deep in the Vaud countryside amid the hoary oaks of the Bois de Moiry woods. Today, he lives in the Joux valley, and still feels a close connection to nature and wood, a limitless source of inspiration that’s reflected in his work as a designer. With qualifications from the Lausanne’s École cantonale d’art university of art and design and the Fribourg School of Engineering and Architecture, Fabien Roy divides his time between design and interior architecture. Where did you get the idea for the Saint- George bed from? I was keen to highlight the natural ethos of Elite as well as promote the use of local wood from Vaud Jura forests, renowned for many miles around for their spruce, ash and oak wood. My project consists of three beds, each connoting three iconic locations close to Elite’s base; three beautiful Vaud villages nestled in a variety of landscapes. The Saint-George bed shares its name with a village at the foot of the Vaud Jura and is as green as the local spruce forest. It’s also a nod to my late grandfather, whose name was George. The Saint-Livres bed recalls the tiny village in the heart of the Aubonne valley, surrounded by vineyards; its burgundy colour brings to mind a fine wine. The third and final bed, Saint-Prex, takes its name from the attractive Vaud village on the shores of Lake Geneva, and naturally comes in a lakeland blue. What materials did you use for the Saint- George? The understated design was an opportunity to highlight the legs, which are made of solid ash. Bed legs are o en concealed, but here they give the bed character. Designing a bed is much harder than most people might imagine. Unlike a chair or armchair, their inherent proportions are not very dynamic, so to add a touch of movement here, I curved the legs slightly at the head end and approached Kvadrat, a Danish supplier of high-quality fabrics, to provide a material whose weave would add relief. The decorative geometric embroidery used for the headboard quilting is evocative of the Risoux Forest in the Joux valley, home to centuries-old spruce trees. The headboard curves inwards too, forming a wooden alcove stained green in such a way as to leave the veins of the wood clearly visible.
My aim was to create a bed that was simple using noble, natural, local materials. It’s a very authentic bed, rooted in its territory, and as such offers an intimate space in which one can fall asleep as if in the depths of a forest or vineyard – or on a lake shore. Can you tell us more about the connection between your work and the natural world? As a child, I was very close to my grandfather – and to nature. I was born in Croy near Romainmôtier and was lucky enough to grow up surrounded by the countryside, spending a lot of time in the woods. My grandfather was a meticulous man and a great lover of wood. He worked as a carpenter, and I used to spend a lot of time with him in his workshop. I was an inquisitive child and liked to watch him at work, learning as I did so. It’s important to me to understand how objects are designed, and I find the design process itself to be a personal source of enrichment and maturity. It helps me stay in touch with reality and its practicalities, and ask myself the right questions. As with most things in life, it’s a case of going one step at a time: a fascinating journey in which the process is perhaps just as important as the final outcome, if not more so. I enjoy drawing inspiration from traditions and then adapting them to present-day needs and lifestyles. My aim was to create a bed that was simple using noble, natural, local materials.
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