Inside the Life of a Graphic Designer in Marseille, Southern France

Never Too Small

Issue 8 of our magazine has arrived! Get your copy now https://www.nts-store.com/   In the first episode of My City, My Backyard, graphic designer and illustrator Guillaume Denaud opens the door to his everyday life in Marseille, introducing us to the places and people that inspire his work and make the city feel like home. From neighbourhood cafés and ceramic studios to skateparks, independent restaurants and Le Corbusier's iconic Cité Radieuse, Guillaume shares the people and places that inspire his work and shape his everyday routine. Along the way, we discover a city defined by creativity, community and a rebellious spirit, where the Mediterranean light, colourful streets and chance encounters continue to influence his illustrations. My City, My Backyard explores the places people return to, and the stories that make a city their own.  Places we visited this episode: - Le Cours Julien - Café ZITOUNE - Atelier OVEN - La Cité radieuse - Librarie Rupture - Maison Mirbel - La Friche la Belle de Mai - Les Babines de Mars - Malmousque  Featuring: Guillaume Denaud Creative Director: Colin Chee Executive Producer: James McPherson Executive Producer : Nelson Khoury Series Producer: Luke Clark Head of Production: Lindsay Barnard Co-Producer: Jordan Barrett Co-Producer: Olive Bilic Director: Rhys Graham Director of Photography: Sam Kostevc Fixer / B Cam: Matthieu Torres Editor: Jess Ruasol Colourist: Jess Ruasol Music: Artlist.io Comets in the Keyhole by Albalak   ourcoffeetime by Out of Flux Seriously Future by Yarin Primak Valle de Anahuac by When Mountains Move Home by Thonio Clouds by Allem Iversom Walkman Snail Shoes by Peter Spacey Always with Me by Delavoh   Sunday by Kitrano Problem Child by xxiii nights The Doubt by Francesco D’Andrea Sundrops by megks Cinque Terre by Luc Allieres Sylvia Delibes by Anthony Vega Mist by Dor Ben Lulu Hourglass by Vikings in Tibet Skillin It by Lalinea Straight Up by Walz Evanescent by Tamuz Dekel Afterdusk by Flint Cute Fluffy Clouds by Less Gravity  Principal production funding from @ScreenAustralia , in association with VicScreen. Financed with the assistance of Scout Production Finance. With support from @T2tea  © 2026 Never Too Small Pty Ltd

Transcript

00:10I think there are a lot of cliches in the city of Marseille.

00:15When I was young, Marseille was described as a dangerous city.

00:20It was dirty.

00:21It's a good spot for skaters.

00:24Not really safe to go here.

00:28For me, Marseille was the perfect city.

00:31It's this energy, the seaside, this sense of community and creative spirit.

00:41There is a place for everybody here.

00:52My name is Guillaume Deneau.

00:56I'm a graphic designer and also illustrator.

01:03We arrived only one year ago in Marseille.

01:08We are a family of four.

01:11With Adèle.

01:12Hello.

01:13Adèle, my girlfriend, is also an illustrator.

01:17And we also have Momo, the dog, and Mimi, the cat.

01:24The building is quite hot.

01:27I think it was built in the early 20s.

01:33There is a lot of history here.

01:37When we arrived, there was nothing here.

01:41With two alcoves, it was a very easy place to fit these wooden shelves.

01:48A lot of small objects that we really loved.

01:51Adèle, Adèle.

01:53Do you have a particular favourite?

01:54Yes.

01:55I love this face.

01:57A lot of...

01:59We have a lot of orange, green, yellow.

02:03It's the colours that we loved and we used in our illustrations.

02:08We hesitated to change this and put more colours

02:11because we have already a lot of colours everywhere.

02:15So sometimes it's nice to have more white stuff and not too much colours.

02:21During Covid, we were in the city of Nantes, near from the sea.

02:26There were two years of winter, really rainy, cold.

02:32We said we are not attached to this place.

02:35So we wanted to change and to move to a bigger city.

02:39And Marseille was the perfect city for us.

02:45I am doing illustrations since maybe ten years now.

02:53There is a digital work for the clients.

03:01I also have a more spontaneous and drawing part of my illustrations for my personal stuff.

03:11I always wanted to drawing things that doesn't exist.

03:16It was a way to create a sort of world between imagination and reality.

03:23I want to be in this imaginary city.

03:25That's what I want people to feel when they look at the drawings.

03:32I really love how the city is shaped in Marseille.

03:36There are big buildings.

03:39Also a lot of hills.

03:42I don't know why, but for me it's really harmonious.

03:4820 years ago, it was the first time I came to Marseille.

03:52I was really into street art.

03:55There was a very famous place in Marseille, which is called Le Cours Julien.

04:02My friend made me visit Le Cours Julien.

04:09And I was really blown away.

04:13Wow, this is so beautiful.

04:15All this graffiti that we wear, all those colors.

04:18For me it was a magical place.

04:26I think people who are doing creative stuff, we have to be curious to progress in what we do.

04:36It can be quite boring to always do the same things.

04:43Photography is one of the other parts of creativity, which is really important for me,

04:48where I can express myself other than the illustration.

04:52It makes me look the things different.

04:55I really love to discover a place with this kind of eyes.

05:02It's not so different from illustration because I'm looking for colors, shapes, movements, interaction, and some things happening.

05:14We just let the world do the work for us.

05:17And we just have to click.

05:31i love to interact with people but also i don't like to interact too much

05:41i'm a bit introvert but also i can't live alone

05:49it's a kind of both sides of my personality

05:59and between le court julien la plane there is a small coffee that we really love which is called

06:04a cafe zitou i really love this big illustration on the wall in front of the cafe zitou good place

06:14to have a cookie and a coffee the best cookie in marseille for me my name is asen and i

06:21work at

06:22cafe zitou here with gaël which is my partner in life we try to make good coffee and good cuisine

06:31we try to make something cozy and comfy like our apartment the interior is made with things that

06:39we took from our apartment to put in the cafe because that's a place where we spend a lot of

06:44time

06:47the food we serve here is a mix of influences from the french culture but also with the mediterranean

06:56side of marseille also the north african culture i was born and raised in for me marseille was always

07:04tied with this north african culture because before i came to live here it was a city i came to

07:11to take

07:11the boat to algeria it's like a hub for people coming but also for people returning to their homes

07:18gaël and i are not from the coffee scene but the energy that exists in this city makes you want

07:25to try

07:26i think the energy is built around like a rebellion against old hierarchy and things like that you can

07:35feel it when you walk around marseille that it's a rebel city not just another quiet city in france

07:53i think for me it's important that the things i see in the house is a kind of a beautiful

07:58momo it's an

08:00hot dog even if everything uh can't be perfect i have to find it beautiful

08:10here it's my workspace

08:14so you have my desk i work the morning here

08:19it's the place where i make all the holders for the shops

08:25one of my favorite piece of ceramics here this one this one yes

08:32two faces i try to make the both different sides each time i sell some of them but not too

08:40much

08:40because uh it's not really perfect

08:53we were trying to find a new way to express our work to try different things with the drawings

09:02we saw that there was a studio of ceramics just next to our apartment which is called atelier oven

09:12it was for me a way to work outside and not to be in front of a computer to do

09:20something with my hands

09:23my name is diane feketé i'm a ceramist artist based in marseille and my work sits between art pieces

09:31design pieces custom commission and really large pieces in ceramic

09:37atelier oven is an atelier that i founded six years ago i also give a few classes per week

09:46it allows me to step away from my production and connect with people and share things that i've

09:51learned over the years good students

09:58guillaume and adele started classes in my old place and it was very interesting for me

10:04they have their own creative world and it's really inspiring for me it's a kind of relaxed moment

10:11drawing without pressure just to have fun i'm not like adele because adele is really

10:19training new stuff she's more experimental marseille i think is a place where you can really

10:27feel a sense of freedom there's a lot of people working in arts design there's some lights there is

10:36some energy of the city have you seen the sunset yesterday you are able to see that almost every day

10:43in marseille that's crazy i have goosebumps speaking about it

10:55here we have a small garden with momo

11:01it's a nice place to to stay and chill

11:08the other day i was painting here

11:12people living upstairs that just put their hand watch and then say oh why it's nice

11:20so it was a really a good moment to chat with them

11:32i think i began drawing like every child very soon

11:38my first memory was drawing cartoons i love ninja turtles but also we had a lot of

11:46comic books like tintin lucky luke

11:50i finished art school and i started to work as a graphic designer

11:56at this moment i discovered the world of miyazaki

12:01and i began to draw flying structure only in black and white with a lot of details

12:09very inspired by the castle in the sky

12:14when i was graphic designer i worked with the kids brand they asked me to put a lot of colors

12:22funny characters and i really loved it too

12:25i started to mix the both things more colors less details i think the it was the beginning of of

12:38my style

12:44i'm very inspired by architecture

12:52i love the buildings in marseille

12:57there is a very uh famous building which is called la cité radios

13:03it's made by le corbusier who is a really famous architect

13:08you have a beautiful light beautiful colors too

13:12and people are really living in this building

13:17there are many shops where you can go

13:21there are a very nice library of architecture

13:28there is also a furniture shop with a lot of beautiful furniture and objects in the spirit of le corbusier

13:45i open a shop with um recycled objects textile jewelry art de la table furniture from the mid-century

13:59and especially french or italian and very where a model

14:06we are in l'unité d'habitation from le corbusier

14:11le corbusier did it just after the war

14:22you can find everything in the same building

14:28apartments

14:30commercial place

14:34we have an hotel

14:37gymnasium on the rooftop

14:40a lot of services for the people who live there

14:46it was the first unit d'habitation

14:50after he did four in in france and one in berlin

14:54this one it's the best one it's a beautiful one

14:57he did everything as he wanted to do

15:00this one

15:06when i was maybe 15 or 16 years old i was in a band

15:12i was also doing a lot of skateboarding at this point

15:16i only drew punk rock band skateboarding stuff

15:25in marseille

15:27y'a beaucoup de choses qui se passent in the cultural scene

15:34a lot of exhibitions

15:40so forest was more stimulated place to create and to work

15:46it's inspiring just to observe things around us

15:51i think in the experience since i've been here i have the impression that there is a lot of

15:57importance of the community

16:00it's easy to speak with people here

16:03people help each other try to create events for everybody

16:09shows concerts that can be free people that don't have a lot of money they can participate

16:18this kind of spirit is important in marseille

16:23i hope we will maybe meet more people and to be more

16:27integrated to be part of the community here

16:39we love to eat and discover new restaurants with my girlfriend

16:44one of the first restaurant we went was the babine de mars

16:52it was only a few weeks we were in in marseille

16:56there are a lot of very good places but i think this one is

17:01i had a special memory of it the owners were so welcoming

17:07it was the beginning of the discovery of the city

17:11my name is anne charlotte i'm igor i'm a co-owner of the restaurant with my

17:17girlfriend and associate

17:21babine in french means the lip and we say to licher the babine like to lick the lips we do

17:27that when we

17:28had a good meal and we had a good moment so yeah the idea was to recreate this in this

17:33place

17:35this is where we decided to settle a few years ago marseille in the center is there's a lot of

17:43things it's really hot and here it's more quiet it's a big city but small villages so maybe this is

17:50what

17:50people look for it's an intense city with a good characters lots of people from the city like

18:00speaking very loud you know when you're driving if you're not happy you can tag and everyone is

18:06like that either you love her or you hate her yeah yeah for me and i guess also for you

18:10it was love at

18:11her site we work with seasonal products all from marseille and we change the menu like every two weeks

18:20to be surprising our customers we go to the vieux port like every two days three days it depends on

18:29what's in the sea it's an amazing city because plenty of things to eat to drinks the seaside is

18:39really really cool it was important for us to stay near from the sea because we really love to go

18:49out

18:49swimming there is a special light i think it's marseille that everybody says that but i think it's quite

18:58true i never saw this kind of very intense light

19:07to go to malmusk you have to walk along the corniche which for me it's one of the best walk

19:13of marseille

19:19i think it's quite special uh when you go for the first time in malmusk

19:26for me it was the first time i experienced this kind of swimming

19:33you have to go on the rocks to find a place the morning is better because it's quiet and there

19:41are

19:41less people but in the evening or the night it's kind of game to have the best spots

19:54a lot of young people came here to drink to make parties and to enjoy the seaside

20:05it's a good place also to see the sunsets very beautiful

20:16i've been living in marseille for just about a year now

20:22and i still feel like i only arrived a few weeks ago

20:28because there's always something new to discover

20:33living here has a change the way i see the city i'm trying to understand it better and i know

20:41the

20:41next time what i love about marseille is that nothing feels too perfect the city sometimes messy sometimes

20:51it's chaotic but it's always alive

20:57it's always alive

21:20it's always alive

21:21so

21:23i

21:38We'll see you next time.

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