LIFESTYLE | 23rd April, 2025
Led by Mathieu Bassée, turning spaces into Immersive, Embroidered masterpieces, new take on the Classic Blinds and Interior separative Screens
Embroidery in architecture? Sounds improbable until you step into the world of Studio MTX. What began as a couture craft associated with gowns and runways now finds itself on walls, windows, and sculptural partitions. Studio MTX doesn’t just apply embroidery to interiors, it rebuilds the relationship between textile and structure, between thread and space.
Born from the legacy of Montex, the revered embroidery house founded in 1939 and celebrated for its work with French fashion maisons, Studio MTX is proof that heritage can evolve without losing sharpness. For decades, Montex stitched for Chanel, Givenchy, and Dior, turning embellishment into an art form. But what happens when that same savoir-faire is scaled up? Enter Studio MTX, an architectural offshoot that takes the precision of couture embroidery and pushes it into entirely new territory.
At the helm is Mathieu Bassée, a creative lead with a biography that doesn’t read like a design school brochure. A former legal and tax consultant, Bassée’s pivot came not in a studio but in front of an everyday object, a Philippe Starck toothbrush that sparked an obsession with industrial design. Fascination snowballed into a career change. He traded contracts for craft, joined Montex, and eventually drove the creation of Studio MTX, setting out to test just how far embroidery could stretch, both literally and conceptually.
Unlike traditional ateliers, Studio MTX doesn’t stop at stitching on fabric. Its portfolio includes silk threads entwined with metal tubing, ribbons worked alongside glass, leather woven into patterns, and beads arranged into structural surfaces. These aren’t artworks hung on walls, they are the walls. Large-format embroidered panels serve as dividers, ceiling systems, and architectural skins. Bassée puts it simply: “We combine different techniques and cultures. That enables us to create things that haven’t been seen before.”
To achieve this, the studio leans heavily on both handcraft and advanced tech. 3D modelling and 3D printing are integral to their process, enabling structural stability and repeatability without sacrificing texture. Every installation is modular, which means panels can adapt across a variety of contexts, from luxury hotels to corporate interiors, cultural spaces, or private homes. This is embroidery not as ornament but as an engineered design system. It is couture scaled up to the size of architecture.
Their collaborations reflect that duality of heritage and experiment. A recent partnership with Invisible Collection produced embroidered mirrors, sculptural screens, and even a disco ball. And not the kitschy glittery kind. Studio MTX’s version is a layered globe of woven metal threads and reflective facets, part lighting element and part sculpture. Elsewhere, their Decorative and Functional Window Panel in Incendo Fabric, developed with textile giant Ludvig Svensson, redefines what a window treatment can do. The panel filters natural light, creates privacy, and adds tactile depth. One piece, three functions, all stitched.
The roots of such innovation lie in a long lineage of architectural textiles. Embroidery has historically been confined to garments, tapestries, and soft furnishings, but MTX repositions it alongside other building materials. Think of it as a textile language rewritten in architectural grammar. The comparison isn’t with wallpaper or upholstery, it is closer to wood paneling, glass partitions, or stone cladding, except it carries the visual intrigue and cultural weight of hand embroidery.
Beyond aesthetics, Studio MTX is exploring material behaviour. How does silk interact with metal under tension? What happens when a beaded thread is stretched across a rigid frame? These experiments lead to panels that don’t just look decorative but act performative. They diffuse light, divide rooms, or give a flat wall the illusion of motion. The studio’s goal is not to make embroidery fashionable in interiors, it is to make it structural, almost infrastructural.
What keeps MTX credible is its refusal to treat craft as a marketing tag. In an era where words like artisan and innovation are used liberally, MTX doesn’t sell a narrative. It builds systems, develops materials, and allows the work to speak. That is why major hospitality projects and collectors alike turn to them. The results are beautiful but also intelligent, balancing visual seduction with engineering.
And while Bassée leads with vision, the team itself is compact but specialised. Craftspeople, designers, and technicians work side by side, forming a miniature ecosystem where couture handcraft and parametric design coexist. Each project is a test bed. One panel proves silk can act as a diffuser, another shows metal embroidery can mimic sculpture. Progress here is iterative, stitched panel by stitched panel.
The result is a hybrid métier, something between architecture, art, and design, but not fully claimed by any of them. Embroidery, once seen as decorative, becomes spatial. It stops being precious and starts being powerful.
In less than a decade, Studio MTX has carved out a category that barely existed. From couture runways to immersive installations, the leap might seem improbable, but in hindsight, it feels inevitable. Embroidery was never just about detail, it was always about storytelling. Studio MTX simply gave it a bigger stage.
And in an industry obsessed with scale, that is a design story worth framing.
FROM HAUTE COUTURE TO HEAVY DUTY
Once upon a catwalk, Montex embroidered Chanel gowns. Today? Their stitches are propping up five-star lobbies and sculptural walls. Who said fashion can’t flex?
SOFT MATERIAL, HARD IMPACT
Silk, metal, ribbon, leather—everything your tailor fears and your architect dreams of. These screens don’t whisper, they announce. Texture with a backbone.
MATHIEU BASSÉE’S PLOT TWIST
Started in law. Got obsessed with a designer toothbrush. Ended up rethinking architectural surfaces with thread and tech. Moral of the story? Career advice is overrated.
Craft, Upgraded
3D models meet silk threads. Metal tubes meet tradition. The result? Design that builds, not just beautifies.
Makaan, Jaipur : A Store That Feels Like a Discovery DECOR | 27th Aug, 2025 Fashion renegade turned multidisciplinary tastemaker, Tahir Sultan transforms Jaipur’s design landscape with Makaan, a space
NEYTT : A Legacy Woven With Purpose And Precision DECOR | 27th Aug, 2025 Step inside Neytt’s Delhi outpost and you’ll quickly realise it’s a North Indian debut that challenges
RAJAN HOUSE JAIPUR : A Boutique Homestay With Heart And Heritage INTERIOR | 20th Aug, 2025 Where heritage arches, block-printed details, and warm hosting create a home you’ll never want
BONAFIDE is a digital design platform that goes beyond aesthetics. We spotlight the thinking, intent, and craft behind meaningful design-not just the finished product. From architecture and interiors to product design and independent brands, we cover work that challenges the norm and pushes ideas forward.
Our content is visually sharp, editorially bold, and purpose-driven. We ask better questions, tell smarter stories, and put creative minds in focus. If you’re building something original with substance and clarity, we’re the platform that gets it, and tells it like it is.
Get notified about new articles
