We caught up with Maxime Leroy at the Grand Palais in Paris, during the Révélations show, the International Biennial of Fine Craft and Contemporary Creation. We were invited to see his collaboration with Blitz Motorcycles of Paris on the ‘Black Angel’, an incredible helmet/bike combination of cut black feathering, hand-applied to leather, covering the helmet entirely (including laid-down quills for the Blitz lightning bolt logo), and the top of the fuel tank. The mix of feathers on the fuel tank is almost vulgar, with hydraulic tubes, air vents, and fuel lines contrasting with the organic delicacy of the hand-cut and hand-dyed goose feathers.
LeRoy founded his own luxury brand M.Marceau, as well as Sacco Baret, a collaboration of Jayma Sacco, Maxime Leroy and Paul Baret. All are exploring new venues for the old craft, and brands like Chanel, Givenchy, Jean Paul Gaultier and Louis Vuitton have featured their incredible featherwork. Leroy was recently recognized internationally as “one of the most inspirational and influential artisans” in Olivier Dupon’s book “Encore! The New Artisans”. He’s also been hired for an art installations at Paris’ Palais de Tokyo, for the exhibition ‘Double Je’.
For ‘Double Je’, Maxime Leroy created a feathered Kawasaki Ninja – ‘Celine’ – as the heart of the exhibit, a large-scale installation of many artists’ work, themed around the crime-thriller novels of Franck Thilliez. ‘Celine’ is perhaps the most haute-couture motorcycle ever built, and perhaps the most evil-looking! We can honestly say there’s never been a helmet like this, nor motorcycles like these!
