Vibrant color is the central force behind everything artist + designer Julie Lansom creates, from her Sputniks to paintings to lighting.

Julie Lansom?s Paris studio is a wonderland of color: Her vibrant paintings sit cheek-by-jowl with her woven Sputnik lamps, made from a rainbow of thread. She?s created gorgeous mirrors in laminated wood with dynamic color combinations, like lavender and white, or moss gray and sky blue, or a soft pomegranate and coral pink. Elsewhere, you?ll find Lansom?s photographs of often bare collaborators, as captured against rich red earth or gray sand. Lanson also works with artisans to produce three tufted rugs, an extension of her painted pieces, in three ?coloramas?: L?Ocean in warm California colors, the cool blues of Les Salines, and the striking greens of Le Fôret (the Ocean, the Salt Marshes, and the Forest).
Indeed, color is the thread that ties Lansom?s work together. ?I think the link has always been colors,? she says. ?I am obsessed with them and how to associate them, I always have been. This is something that can be found in every aspect of my work, in all the different media.?

Lansom didn?t set out to be an artist ? rather than studying fine arts in her native France, she pursued an education in journalism. Her career in media was ultimately short-lived, though: ?I had always been painting, taking photos, buildings things ? but I went for a master?s degree in journalism, in terms of my studies,? she says. ?I only worked f...