An ‘attrapeur de rêve’ by his own terms, Benoît Miniou is difficult to define. He is the founder of Ateliers Victor, where for fifteen years he has been aiming to materialize the dreams of his wealthy clients into moments or objects.
“People come to me to create objects or experiences that will mark a birthday, a birth, a marriage proposal. So I dig deep into their hearts, minds, to bring out desires, wishes, dreams that individuals and institutions are not aware of. That’s why I don’t have a shop, or a website. I don’t want to be polluted by something I have already seen. And this allows me to make people understand that they have the right to dream,” shares this former director at Hermès, who has worked with several luxury houses and is about to fulfill for the first time a wish from his imagination: sending Princess Grace of Monaco’s rose into space.
A project at the intersection of poetry and extravagance to highlight this flower named in honor of Princess Grace in 1981. “By taking care of others’ dreams, I wanted to take care of mine,” explains Benoît Miniou as he details this project, based on his fascination with Princess Grace.
Studying the resilience of living organisms
The connection between Benoît Miniou and Monaco has been established for a few years, and following a discussion with the French ambassador to Monaco, he talked about this idea as “a message in a bottle.” This idea caught the attention of Princess of Hanover, who chose to highlight it at last year’s Rose Ball, where she and her friend Christian Louboutin imagined a theme invoking the imagination of galaxies and space exploration, in line with Benoît Miniou’s project, now being revealed to guests.
Space is a playground familiar to Benoît Miniou, who has previously sent twelve bottles of Petrus into orbit. However, the approach with roses will be different. It will not involve sending a bouquet of fresh roses into space.
“Just like all my projects, I surround myself with a sharp team. I am the dreamer, the conductor accompanied by a director for space-related matters, and another for gravitational microbiology since the roses will be sent passively,” details the designer. “The idea is not to make them grow upwards. That’s not relevant to our experiment. What we want to see is the effects of radiation and microgravity on these roses. They will be sent in three states: rosewood, buds, and callus, which is the heart of a stem, loaded with DNA and very reactive to the environment.”
These elements will be placed in a small container – presented at the Rose Ball – and designed to withstand the journey. The project, named “Rose de l’espace,” aims to study the resilience of living organisms in extreme conditions, which could contribute to research on space exploration and sustainable agriculture on Earth.
The ambition to inspire
To achieve his vision, Benoît Miniou has collaborated with space research programmers and now has two options. To send his rose container via Space X to reach the International Space Station, or through a private orbiter. The launch is scheduled for early 2027, with an expected duration in space ranging from 2 to 6 months.
The creator hopes that this adventure will spread a bit of poetry in a world often gray. “I often tell my teams that if someone, deep in Arkansas or Thailand, hears about this adventure and it makes them dream, then I’ve had a successful day. As I told the students at the Robert Louis Stevenson School in California, with whom we collaborate: never let anyone tell you your dreams are too big.”
In fifteen years with Ateliers Victor, Benoît Miniou and the dozen people who make up his team have realized several dreams. Creating a pharaoh’s crocodile pectoral for a princess who wanted an impressive evening object. Or a game chest for Janet Jackson’s husband, who was looking for a unique item to offer to his son before his birth.
“I never create the same thing twice,” emphasizes the designer, admitting that his participation in the Rose Ball in Monaco has opened “some interesting doors” for him, which will continue to fuel his desires.
