Hello Aurélie, you are the founder of a Catholic decoration brand whose slogan is “bringing out our faith through everyday objects”. Objects to talk about God in kind?
Yes indeed ! We are two mothers of large families, a little hyper-active but above all committed. With our spouses, we have had the opportunity for several years to prepare couples for marriage. During these journeys, we received the fiancés at our house, and two years ago, we realized how much our interiors said something about us. Obviously, we think about having a neat, clean, tidy, decorated house, but is our house spiritual? You have to manage to “give a soul to your house” as Olivia de Fournas invites us to do in her recently published eponymous book (Mame editions). Often, the spirituality of our house is embodied by “explicit” religious objects, crosses, icons. But why shouldn’t our everyday objects (vase, candle, lamp, etc.) remind us of this spirituality? It is our ambition and that of Haut les Coeurs Collection : to remember God in objects without sacrificing anything to the aesthetic dimension.
Because aesthetics is important?
It’s primordial ! education in God is education in beauty. As Catholics, we must look for beauty in everything: music, liturgy… and also decoration! Until now, imagining a “Catholic mug” was like imagining an industrial cup in white porcelain produced in China, flocked with a badly printed logo in garish colors… It was basically an advertising object and not a decorative one. I had the chance to work for 12 years at Hermès, specifically in the “Home” department. It was a great school on aesthetics, but also on the development of the incredible know-how of our craftsmen. In a more humble way, this is what we apply at Haut les Coeurs: an assumed artistic and aesthetic vision, and close collaboration with local craftsmen: the privilege of proximity. Evangelizing objects, fruit of the work of men“.
Exactly: We haven’t really talked about evangelization yet… So. Can we really evangelize with objects?
To be more precise, there is the evangelization of our neighbours, but also our own evangelization, that is to say our own conversion. Some of us wear the scapular or a medal, the Christians of Jerusalem have a cross tattooed on the inside of the wrist. These signs are for ourselves. So that 100 times a day by seeing them, we have a thought for God. Well, our coffee cup, our deckchair, or our vase on the entrance table can now also give us “God winks”, as we like to say: invitations to what we had before. it is customary to call “ejaculatory prayers” very brief and intense little prayers inserted into our very busy days.
And so indeed, there is the evangelization of our neighbours: our objects often arouse conversations, first of all by their truly attractive aesthetics. The messages or symbols are subtle, but open to questioning. We seek to ensure that most items at Top hearts can be offered by a Catholic to anyone, without creating discomfort, but perhaps to give the opportunity to tell their story or start a discussion.
Evangelizing through our interiors, interview with Aurélie Debaecker – Le Salon Beige