Louis Garella is a Paris-based art director and designer, and founder of Studio Garella. His practice moves between graphic design, image-making, and visual culture, creating work that balances experimentation with precision. Working across fashion, luxury, and cultural contexts, he develops visual languages that extend beyond a single medium, drawing on a broad range of references to build distinctive and immersive brand worlds. His clients include Hermès, Mugler, Puma, MSGM, and Louis Roederer.
As founder of Studio Garella, what is something about running a studio that you didn't fully anticipate when you started?
I use the name Studio Garella because I like collaborating with different designers depending on the project. Nothing is fixed: each collaboration gives rise to a different story. But to answer your question more precisely, what matters most to me is the relational dimension with the client. There's a real psychological aspect to turning an idea into a concrete form. It's an exercise that's both stimulating and exciting — even if, sometimes, it's a genuine challenge. Especially when you're just out of school, when you tend to be focused on your own practice. With a client, it's the opposite: you have to adapt to their brief.
When beginning a project for a client such as Hermès or Mugler, are you looking for what makes the brand familiar or what makes it unique?
I want to make it unique while staying true to the brand's DNA. By offering a different approach, given the world we live in, saturated with images. I want to create imagery that grabs attention and challenges the public, while maintaining a sense of closeness with them.
Louis Roederer operates both as a Champagne house and through the Fondation Louis Roederer. Did working across both sides of the organisation require different creative approaches, and what did you learn from moving between cultural and commercial contexts?
This is a challenge that stimulates me. I chose to keep the same approach, since I first started working with the Fondation Louis Roederer (which supports contemporary creation and research), and then with the champagne itself. So I kept the same approach throughout. As for the commercial aspect, it elevates the brand in a way, giving it the same refined, high-end quality as their champagne.
Luxury brands are often expected to balance exclusivity with relevance. From a design perspective, how do you balance heritage and tradition with the need to create something contemporary?
That's true, but on the contrary, they often have a real desire to modernize their image while still preserving their history and heritage. Not every brand does this, but when it comes to my clients, if they come to me, it's precisely because they have that desire. And on my end, this results in creations that are rich in meaning and history, so it's both interesting and stimulating to create from that kind of material. I feel privileged to be able to work this way!
Paris has a long and influential design history. Do you feel connected to that tradition, or are you more interested in pushing against it?
Not necessarily. Of course it influences me, since I've been living there for quite a few years now and the city inspires me. But I'm from Provence, so I don't feel confined by these traditions, on the contrary, I like to question them and bring my own vision and heritage to the table.
Studio Garella works across a wide range of disciplines. Have there been projects where the final outcome surprised you and evolved into something quite different from the original brief?
Yes, of course. For example, with Hermès, I work with the brand's artistic director, who brings a vision that's very rich, shaped by years of experience. Combined with my own work, this leads to results I wouldn't have anticipated on my own. Another example: when I work with clients outside the cultural field, it brings yet another fresh perspective, free from any pre-existing cultural or creative references.
Collaboration can often lead a project in unexpected directions. Have there been instances where a collaborator fundamentally changed your original idea, and how do you decide when to embrace those shifts?
Yes, that happens. As a designer, I'm there to find solutions to their intentions. But it depends on the client: if they come to me for my visual universe, I have more or less free rein, and they trust me. Sometimes, after a multitude of changes, we lose the original intentions and the spontaneity of the creation, this often happens when the client doesn't know themselves what they actually need. Beyond that, the most important thing is, like in a relationship, communication ;) A thorough brief helps narrow things down and reach the goal quickly, without impacting the creative process too much.
There is often a tension in your work between precision and experimentation. How do you know when to follow a system and when to disrupt it?
I let myself be guided mostly by my intuition, and experimentation allows me to explore territories I wouldn't have anticipated. It creates surprise and inspiration. I also use AI out of curiosity, to see what it comes up with, i can pick up fragments or elements that spark my creativity. Any means is worth trying if it lets me be surprised. In a second phase, I move into a more structured, precise process, bringing in context and rigor. At first, it's artistic research, and then I integrate it into my thinking as a designer to give it meaning.
Looking back at the evolution of your studio, what is a creative risk that ultimately changed the direction of your practice?
Every risk brings its share of mistakes, and every mistake has brought me to where I am today. This will keep evolving, and that's what I love about creation: everything is fluid and shifting, just like the Studio Garella logo.
Looking ahead, are there particular industries, collaborators, or types of projects you would like Studio Garella to explore in the future?
I'd like to steer the studio even more toward fashion, a field where I can combine visual imagery and graphic design. It gives rise to interesting narratives. There's also the world of combat sport: as a combat sports practitioner myself, I feel it would be worthwhile to bring a fresh image to this world, often perceived as negative, violent, or masculine, when in fact it's open to all genders, and carries beautiful values of respect.
