Background
I never know what to say when people ask me where I’m from, because I don’t have a one-word, clear-cut answer.
I was born in Harare, Zimbabwe to a French-Belgian dad, and an American mom. From what I can remember and see in photos, I lived there happily, barefoot and in the sunshine, for almost seven years. When we moved to Cleveland, Ohio I was heartbroken. But the joys of discovering snow, Halloween and my extended family softened the transition, and I spent three years becoming a (sort of) tiny American. After the US we moved to Limoges, France - a smallish city in the south west part of France, a region of rolling green hills dotted with limousin cows and grazing sheep.
Each of these moves was difficult for me - I like familiarity and feeling rooted, so each new beginning meant culture shock, adjustment, disorientation... But I am so grateful I lived in the places I did. I was lucky enough to grow up with different cultures and, thanks to this, I was exposed to different ways of thinking and seeing the world. Living in different environments has made me curious about other people, places, languages, expressions, and art.
I suppose I feel more French than anything else - but French people tell me that I have an accent, and Americans tell me that I seem French… so I've learned to think of “home” as more a state of mind rather than a place.
Hello
One of my favourite books when I was little (and there were many) was a book called My Painted House, My Friendly Chicken and Me. It was written by the wonderful Maya Angelou, and begins, “Hello stranger-friend…”. I’d like to borrow Ms. Angelou’s open-hearted optimism and greet you the same way: Hello stranger-friend. I hope you’ll have a look around the site to get to know me - and who knows, maybe some day we won't be strangers!
My name is Lucie Panis-Jones, and I'm a French / American / Belgian textile designer and curator.
A few things about me
I am introverted and quiet, but fierce in my friendships and beliefs. I am dependable, reliable, conscientious and detail-oriented. I love colour and texture, rooms filled with plants, popcorn, fiction…and I spend way too much time at coffee shops.
I try to make smart choices about the things I buy and wear. I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 12, when I figured out that all the beautiful cows that lived in the fields surrounding our house were destined for the abattoirs, and I am now conscious of the considerable strain the food industry is putting on our natural resources.
education
After graduating from high school in Limoges, I went on to do my Foundation Year in Applied Arts and Design in La Souterraine, France. After that I spent six months studying Spanish in Seville, Spain, and then moved to Roubaix, France, to do a two-year degree in Textile Design (BTS).
From there I went to Belgium to obtain my Bachelor’s in Textile Design at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Brussels. After graduating, I was hired as the Production Assistant at Perrine Rousseau Paris.
After working there for almost two years, I decided to embark on a new journey... I left Paris to take some time off to travel, and ended up in Cape Town, South Africa, where I recently graduated from the University of Cape Town with an Honours in Curatorship.