LVMH Métiers d’Art announces Josèfa Njtam for artistic residency 2023

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Jun 9, 2023

LVMH Métiers d’Art has chosen Josèfa Njtam for its 2023 artistic residency, the novel annual encounter pairing artisans and artists staged within key design producers in the luxury empire.

 Njtam was actually chosen last year, and in January began her residency in the Jade metal parts factories, with workshops in Portugal and France. They are known for their exceptional savoir-faire in the design and production of metal parts and jewelry.
 
Hailed for her bas relief sculptures, molecular statues and 3D structures in resin and ceramic, Njtam is also admired for her ability to meld West African and European cultures and artifacts into fresh distinctive images. Like all LVMH Métiers d’Art residency winners, Njtam does not work with a luxury brand studio, but with a specialist team of artisans further upstream.

“The idea from the beginning was about linking artisans and artists. By placing artists next to artisans, one gives their work a certain imprimatur, encouraging artisans to be part inventor and part creator. When you put the artist inside the atelier magic happens. Some literally look in trash cans and can be inspired by rubbish. And the artisan says, ‘don’t tell my boss!’” laughs Jean Baptiste Voisin, director of strategy for the LVMH group and chairman of LVMH Métiers d’Art.
 
Njtam is understood to be focusing on metals using the most innovative technologies, particularly in 3D metal printing. Josèfa Njtam was born in 1992 in Metz, France, and currently lives and works in Saint-Etienne. She studied in Amiens, France and Dakar, Senegal (Cheikh Anta Diop University) and is a graduate of the National School of Art in Bourges and the National School of Art in Paris-Cergy. Her art is already part of prestigious private and public collections, including the FRAC Alsace, the BEI Institute in Luxembourg and the Artothèque de Strasbourg in France. Njtam is represented by the London Gallery Nicoletti.
 
First developed in 2015, this year marks the eighth edition of the LVMH Métiers d’Art residency. Artists generally spend the first six months of the year inside an atelier – and not in a fancy villa. Then from July on they do a summary of work and a book on the residency. Eventually presenting their work in both a gallery and inside the atelier, where artisans are invited to celebrate with their friends and family.
 
Generally, around 3O artists are considered for the residency, in a selection directed by Léa Chauvel-Lévy, before she reduces this to a short list of five, who are individually interviewed before one is chosen.
 
“Josèfa had a project that amazed us, a mix of her own origins on the two continents. She wants to bridge cultures and she wants to describe part of the history of two regions,” added Voisin.