Hervé Delaby - Biography
As a child the airfields of Villacoublay, Paris, Reims and Madagascar were my playground and my passion
for design and engineering grew from this magical experience....
I was born on the 21st of June 1960 in Antony near Paris. My father was an aircraft engineer in the French Air Force and my mother a fashion designer. I also had an older brother. In 1968, because of my father's job, we all moved to Madagascar, where we were based on an airfield at Ivato not far from Antananarivo. It was an idyllic life. We came back from Madagascar in 1971 as my father was posted to Reims military airfield, in Champagne. This is where I spent most of my teenage years, studying for my B.E.P.C ('0' level) and my Baccalaureat ('A' level). At L'Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Reims I studied Sculpture and History of Art.
In 1983 I did my national service in the French Air force where I was posted in Tahiti. On my return from Polynesia, I was a paramedic for 3 years. Later I went to study design in Lille, where I attained a degree in Industrial Design and Interior Architecture ("Brevet de Technician Supérieur").
I worked for 3 years as a set manager for the Galleries Lafayette in Nantes, Evry and back in Reims. I then decided to resign from my job and came to live in England. While improving my English I studied Computer Aided Design at South Bristol College for 6 Months and achieved a City and Guilds in 2D and 3D CAD. This course opened up a different world into which I could channel my passion for design, especially in 3D design, from concept to completion. I worked for 5 years for an engineering company, Concrete Machinery Systems, in Bristol. I then decided to take agency work in order to gain experience in different design areas, and also to have the time to start my own design and 3D visualization company. I was fortunate to be one of the designers for the Millennium Project "Explore @t Bristol" where I designed exhibits for young people.
My personal design work includes: Stands for Vodafone Heathrow, Sony Ericsson, BMW Intel, MacLaren Intel, a hospitality trailer for Vodafone Ferrari, Intel Pentium art gallery, Equipmag structure for the London Olympics at Trafalgar Square, a homage to Rietveld & Mackintosh, a travel agency in a commercial environment, design for Glastonbury Smirnoff, Siemens Mobile, structures for Quicksilver/Boost surfing events in the USA, Le Palais des Congrés Cannes nautical exhibition, Barclays Museum in Liverpool (proposal: museum, shop and café) and most recently the outer design of the Caravan of the Future - "Cargo.S" (closed and extended mode).
I am currently living in Bristol, working as a freelance designer and 3D visualiser. I am also a visiting lecturer at Bristol College, teaching design and presentation to HNC and HND design students. During my free time I enjoy sculpture, drawing, painting and making ceramics. I also produced the drawings for a short film called "Feather Man". In contrast to my design work my fine artwork is very classical in style.
I have one daughter, Anais. She is 19 and studying Fashion Design in Lyon, France.
Website: Designed by Hervé Delaby;
Coded by Richard Albion