52 ARCHDIGEST.COM
CREATIVE FORCE
Renaissance Man
Pivoting between cultures,
continents, and careers, Nicolas
Bellavance-Lecompte champions
great design the world over
I
’m comfortable in French, English,
Italian—and I know the basics
in German, Arabic, and Spanish,”
notes Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte,
when asked his primary language.
Being multilingual is nonnegotiable
for the polymath, who has cofounded
a gallery in Beirut, worked as a creative
consultant in Milan, and helped launch
the roving Nomad design fair, which
has traveled from Venice to Monaco to
Saint Moritz.
Earlier this year he added yet another
title to his résumé: art director at the
Fonderia Artistica Battaglia, a Milanese
bronze foundry dating back more than
a century. Bellavance-Lecompte was
recruited to connect the facility—one
of the few that still practice lost-wax
casting—with designers who could
bring fresh energy to the craft. The first
creative fruits, a dozen extruded bronze
sculptures by the Swedish-Chilean artist
Anton Alvarez, debuted during April’s
Salone del Mobile. Up next is a collabo-
ration with New York designer Katie
Stout, who will explore her playful design
vocabulary using the Battaglia’s storied
techniques and more than 150 patinas.
“The foundry is a unique reality,” says
Bellavance-Lecompte. “They just need
someone to translate it.”
Translator might be a good way to
describe Bellavance-Lecompte, who
works at the intersection of architecture,
art, and design. Born in Canada, he
studied architecture at the University
of Montreal and Venice University
Institute of Architecture, later moving
to Berlin for a multidisciplinary master’s
degree before ultimately relocating
to Milan, where he set up the product-
design studios Samare and Oeuffice.
But designing wasn’t his calling. “I’m
more of a curator,” he says. “I like being
the director behind the camera.” In
2011 he put that into practice, cofound-
ing Carwan Gallery, which introduced
international talents like Philippe Malouin,
Lindsey Adelman, and Kwangho Lee to
Beirut. Carwan recently announced that
it will relocate to Athens come 2020.
DISCOVERIES
NICOLAS BELLAVANCE-
LECOMPTE, THE NEW
ART DIRECTOR OF MILAN’S
FONDERIA BATTAGLIA.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY VALENTINA SOMMARIVA
