In 2017, at just 25 years old, Céline Delcourte capitalised on the first part of her career in event communications to found Antoinette, a creative studio specialising in scenography for private and corporate events in Belgium and abroad.

The studio’s name is a mini-homage to Marie-Antoinette, Queen of France (and of style); one of the first to hold large banquets. Tell us about your background.

After training in event communications, I worked for Profirst for three years. As assistant to the artistic director, I was responsible for the design and scenography of the events we organised. At the time, I soon realised the logistical difficulties caused by the large number of people involved in this type of organisation. For an organiser, contacting teams of florists, furniture and crockery hire companies or carpenters takes up a lot of time and energy. So I came up with the idea of bringing everything together in the same studio

So based on this observation, you created Antoinette.

At first, I focused on tableware. Then, very soon, the studio extended its services to general decoration. At the time, I was working alone. Now, there are seven of us. Three people with complementary backgrounds (a florist, graphic designer and calligrapher) are in charge of project management. I’ve also hired a carpenter to build our wooden structures, an administrative manager and a freelancer to orchestrate communications.

Let’s talk about communications: one of the ways you’ve built up a community of private and business customers is through networking (and Instagram in particular).

From the outset, I felt that this medium would be very promising for us. Although word-of-mouth works well for private customers, a single Instagram post can bring us new customers. I’m thinking, for example, of a recent video showing the construction of a champagne wall, which generated 7 million views and 6,000 new followers.

Your clients are often prestigious. And they’re not just based in Belgium.

Through communications agencies and press offices, as well as certain architects and chefs (including Yves Mattagne), we work for brands such as Laurent Perrier, Caudalie, Dior Beauty, Chanel Beauty, etc., but also, in the food sector, with brands (I’m thinking in particular of Bordeaux Wines) that want to use us to design their scenography at trade fairs and shows. We’re still a long way off reaching the whole Belgian market. Especially as I’m convinced that Flanders is a very promising market for us. Abroad, we have a private client based in the English countryside for whom we create some very beautiful table settings. We also organise events in France and Spain. But my aim is not to export at all costs, nor to grow exponentially. In fact, in the post-Covid period, we went up to 12 employees, but I very soon realised that this momentum was not for me.

Naturally, this momentum is based on well-oiled logistics.

For each event, we produce a creative moodboard, as well as a file containing details of the furniture and floral arrangements (produced in-house) so that our clients have an overview of what we intend to put in place. We create the scenography for around two events a week. 40% for private clients and the rest for companies. Paradoxically, the dinners for private clients generate the most turnover. In 10 years, I haven’t come up against much competition. I think that this profession – which is very glamorous from the outside – involves huge logistics, which can put off some young studios that are just starting out.

Which event are you most proud of?

A private dinner organised by a Belgian for ten of his guests in the heart of the Château de Versailles. Our client combined it with an organ concert in the château’s chapel. It’s a prestigious venue to say the least, but also, given the studio’s name, one with a high symbolic value. My other source of pride is that I was able to take this project where I wanted. Our financial results have far exceeded my projections. Our turnover has doubled every year. My aim now is to maintain it at its current level and continue this wonderful adventure at a serene pace.