In line with enSoie’s long-standing tradition of artist designed foulards, Bruno Zhu has designed a scarf with voluptuous lipstick kisses forming a somewhat wobbly heart surrounded by an elegant Cocteau-like line. The kiss- or its lipstick trace- serves both as mark as well as pictorial signature that has become a repetitive gesture in Zhu’s works and is– more or less obviously – also a play on the artist’s name. A regular guest at Saalhof’s country house in Alsace, the similarities between the French word for kiss „bisou“ and the English pronunciation of the artist’s signature „B.Zhu“ came up in one of many excited conversations at the fireplace on love, life and artistic production.



Today, the artist’s kiss appears on exhibition posters, displays and texts or as a formal element in his on-going series of delicate collages. Always also having taken an interest in paraphernalia and the commercialization of artistic processes, Bruno Zhu’s bisou has become a signature feature for his contributions to the shops of museums and places he exhibits- from mugs in Lisbon’s Gulbenkian Foundation, to candles in Antwerp’s Museum of contemporary art – and now, very proudly, SAALHOF 1123’s L’Esprit collection.



About Bruno Zhu:

Mechanisms of desire, identity, and ideology inform the work of Bruno Zhu, a Portugese artist living in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Influenced by fashion design, publishing and scenography, Zhu works in the space of fiction to rewrite agency, authorship, consumption and power. Bruno Zhu’s work is shown internationally, recent projects include exhibitions at M HKA in Antwerp, Chisenhale Gallery in London, Para Site in Hong Kong, Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Veronica in Seattle, Kunsthalle Zurich in Zurich, What Pipeline in Detroit, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin. Zhu is a member of A Maior, a curatorial program set in a home furnishings and clothing store in Viseu, Portugal.

Edition of 56
70 x 70cm 
100% Silk


About L’Esprit:

L’Esprit is a collection of beautiful things and objects designed in close collaboration with some of our dear artists, designers and brands– especially for SAALHOF 1123.


L’Esprit is the fantasy of a summer in the countryside, spent with plenty of leisure and few plans, a summer of long conversations at the table with family and friends, stretching deep into the cool night. A summer of slow days with thick books, maybe a trip into town or to the water just on time to watch the sun set before we return home full of new memories.


All of L’Esprit ‘s items have been produced in a strictly limited edition and exclusively for SAALHOF 1123. They deliberately blur the boundaries between contemporary art, design and craftsmanship to create new, playful variations. 

At the same time, they are an expression of exchange, friendship and collaboration – entirely in keeping with the “Esprit” of SAALHOF 1123.