Agathe & Martin Interviews
Agathe is a French-born image-maker and designer based in Oslo. While working in fashion for over 20 years, she has dedicated her sensitivity to the visual language; painting, photographing, collaging, drawing, mixing... She designed the latest visual campaign for Une rose au paradis. R.B. and lent us her voice for a series of Valentine's Day videos.
For D'ORSAY, she also agreed to take part in our love interview with her husband Martin (Engh), who is a film director dedicated to stop motion animation and co-owner of the Oslo-based film production company Dept.
Can you tell us about the first time you met?
Agathe Berjaut: It was a spring evening about 20 years ago. I had been heartbroken for a few months and one of my friends invited me to a housewarming party. I tried to find all the excuses in the world not to go, but she was pretty persuasive. I came over quite late to a crowded apartment filled with music, laughters and people I knew in every corners. The atmosphere was joyful, with a feeling of letting go. What happened next is so theatrical in my memory. I enter the living room, it's dark, but my eyes immediately plunge to Martin, as if a spotlight had been switched on, solely on him. No one else existed at that precise moment.
Martin Engh: I was back in town for a long weekend from Italy, where I was working at the time. Early spring, meeting up with friends and then this party where Agathe appeared out of nowhere. I remember her walking into the room and me getting up to talk to her. We have been together ever since...
What did you think when you saw her/him?
A.B.: Who are you? We immediately tried to talk to each other, and did so all night until the sun was high enough in the sky. He missed his plane to be with me all weekend.
M.E.: She has such elegance and self-confidence that I was immediately under her spell.
What's the most unusual place you've kissed or been kissed...?
A.B.: From the train in Vietnam to the open-air terrace between the laundry lines.... We've kissed several times in 20 years.
M.E.: The first kiss, the first night after the party in a friend's car, I didn't want that night to end.
What does the smell of her skin remind you of?
A.B.: Indescribable, it is about alchemy. Her scent makes me feel at home.
M.E.: It smells like a warm summer night. Something you want to find again and again.
What fascinates you about him/her?
A.B.: Martin is the kindest person I know, always putting other people's needs before his own. He embraces people without judging them, and I think this quality really touched my heart. His complexity is a balance between talent and playfulness on the one hand, and a very sensitive and unpredictable personality on the other. I'm in love with her humanity.
M.E.: She is radiant. I love her lively, contrasting manner. I admire her playful, creative spirit, which I think is why we fell in love. At the same time, she's stable and never gives up when she sets her mind to something.
The way he/she calls you privately...
A.B.: "My love"
M.E.: "My love"
The most beautiful statement he/she has ever made to you?
A.B.: I will never take you for granted.
M.E.: Not so long ago, she said to me: "You are my rock".
What fantasy have you fulfilled or would you like to fulfill with him/her?
A.B.: I deeply wish to experience a 360° life change with him/her.
M.E.: To go through life with her, the highs and the lows.
A moment in your life when you wanted to stop time and make it last.
A.B.: We have been together for a long time and we've experienced some intense moments together, but we were called back to Love a few weeks ago during a weekend in Venice, and I think we both wished that time would stop for a while.
M.E.: A few years ago, we spent a family vacation on a small exotic island where we were all in perfect harmony. It was all about us and living in the moment together, without interference. I often return to it in my mind to seek peace.
Your strongest/most disturbing olfactory memory?
A.B.: Every summer, when we arrive in the country village where I spent my childhood vacations in the South of France, I am overwhelmed by emotions. The first thing that comes over me when I get off the train is always the smell of nature, the river, the lavender, the sun melting me. I'm really me at that moment.
M.E.: The smell of my newborn daughters.