Ideas in Residence is where the ideas that shape EXEAT come to play.

The heavenly artworks, design confections and crafted spaces that inform how we see the world.  These are the ideas we live alongside, and return to, as our universe takes shape.

Come with us on an adventure into the imagination….

February’s Idea in Residence: Portrait of Dauphine Marie-Antoinette by Joseph Siffred Duplessis, 1772–73, Versailles.

Painted shortly after her arrival at the French court, this is the first portrait of Marie-Antoinette made in France.

She is very young, newly married, and already carrying the weight of public expectation. Duplessis presents her without idealisation. The posture is composed, the expression unguarded. It is an image of becoming rather than arrival.

But what held our attention was the palette - Powdered blue, softened pink, elegant gold. Balanced, calm and truthful.

At EXEAT, colour is never incidental. We consider how combinations behave over time, how they carry mood, and how they settle into a wider visual language. This harmony stayed with us long after we left Versailles.

Those colours found their way into our coat of arms.

The blue of the shield.
The pink of the blooms.
The gold of the scrolls, sun and frame.

Even the gentle flush of our sun goddess’s cheeks traces back to the Dauphine herself 🌞.

An idea observed, absorbed, and re-expressed.
This is how ideas take up residence at EXEAT ✨