Flavien Prioreau and Zoé Kovacs arrived at photography by separate routes—he through the precision of editorial portraiture, she through the fluid space between fashion and the human face—only to discover, once they met, that their instincts kept colliding in the most productive way. What started as mutual challenge and exchange hardened into a single visual language spoken by two people who still take turns behind the camera.
Studio Mimi is the creative photography studio that grew from that collision. For fifteen years, Zoé and Flavien have worked at the sharp end of beauty and fashion, answering the demands of exacting clients while remaining loyal to instinct, colour, creative storytelling, and the search for the right vision. Their permanent studio is less a production facility than a living centre where images are allowed to form without the usual logistical noise.
In this conversation with hube, Zoé speaks about the origins of that shared practice, their idea of imperfect perfection, the challenge that excites them in beauty photography, and the next space they are already designing for the artists and productions still to come.
hube: How did each of you come to photography, and how did your two paths eventually come together to create Studio Mimi? Were there any defining influences—artists, mentors, or pivotal moments—that shaped your shared visual language?
Zoé Kovacs: We both began our photographic journeys independently. Flavien focused on editorial portraiture, while I worked between fashion and portrait photography. When we met, we naturally started sharing ideas, challenging each other’s perspectives, and blending our practices. We kept confronting our experiences until it became obvious that we should join forces. Much of our commissioned work serves the creative industry, where you have to produce quickly and at scale, without ever compromising quality. Studio Mimi was born from the desire to develop a shared visual language.
“Mimi” means the centre to us—the place where everything converges. Flavien is an exceptional colourist and technician, while I have an instinctive ability to build stories. What we share is a love of colour, a deep sensitivity to people, the pleasure of composing an image together, and an almost obsessive attention to colour.
Our way of working is incredibly fluid. We constantly alternate behind the camera, which allows us to keep the necessary distance while remaining completely immersed in the creative process.
Music has always been a huge influence for Flavien. The visual culture surrounding musicians and album artwork has deeply shaped his eye. As for me, I’ve always been fascinated by conceptual photographers who place ideas at the centre of their work. Tim Walker, Irving Penn, and Sarah Moon are among my greatest influences. I’m drawn to poetry, to carefully crafted worlds, and to photography that gives itself permission to invent.
We meet on the blank page that is the studio—a place where light, this invisible material, encounters the endless possibilities of imagination.
h: Of all the directions photography could have taken you, why did you choose beauty and fashion? And fifteen years later, what keeps you there?
ZK: Beauty and portraiture are endlessly fascinating because they’re both incredibly demanding. They require technical precision, but also the ability to genuinely connect with another person.
What excites us is finding emotion within a very small space—bringing someone to life, capturing presence, revealing something real. We’re equally passionate about still life, especially the dialogue between portraits and objects. We love creating diptychs, allowing objects to extend the narrative of a face and vice versa. Both disciplines feed one another and continually enrich our storytelling.
h: You chose to build a permanent home for your work rather than moving from one rental studio to another. What kind of atmosphere did you want Studio Mimi House to embody?
ZK: From the moment we met, we shared the same desire to have a place of our own—a true artist’s studio. Our goal was to free ourselves from the logistical weight of production and create a space where making images could become lighter, more spontaneous, and more intuitive.
Flavien had experienced this model before, and I dreamed of being able to create whenever inspiration struck—at any hour, without constraints. We wanted to build our own world. A place that moves to our own rhythm.
h: The word “perfection” often comes up when you speak about your work. Yet contemporary culture sometimes distrusts perfection and values raw authenticity instead. What does perfection mean to you? Is a perfect image necessarily a good image?
ZK: We believe in imperfect perfection. For us, perfection is the moment when you let go of control and something unexpected aligns. In photography, perfection often appears through imbalance. An unexpected gesture. An accident.
We love to de-digitalise our images—to damage them, to introduce texture and imperfection. Real perfection lies in surrendering, in the encounter, in allowing reality to dismantle what we had planned.
Perfection is closely tied to grace. There is always a moment during a shoot when everything suddenly falls into place. Finding that fragile balance between control and chance is a gift. That’s what perfection feels like. Rather than chasing flawless beauty, we’re interested in singularity, accidents and imperfections. We want beauty that speaks. Beauty is the soul of things.
h: Today, a flawless face can be generated from a simple text prompt—without a camera, a model or even light. Do you see artificial intelligence as a threat or as a creative tool?
ZK: We see AI as another innovation—another creative tool, especially in the drafting and ideation stages.
It takes years to develop an eye, a sensitivity and a personal visual language. Every tool has value, provided that your artistic vision remains at the centre of the process. Learning to truly see—and finding your own voice—is a long journey. No technology can replace that.
h: How has designing—and living in—a space where life and work coexist transformed your relationship with image-making? Does the domestic nature of the space bring a different energy or authenticity to your shoots?
ZK: Having “a room of one’s own” gives you freedom. It legitimises your artistic practice and allows it to become the centre of your life. Once you truly commit to an artistic voice, it naturally occupies most of your thoughts. For us, photographing is living, and living is photographing.
We wanted to surround ourselves—and everyone who walks through Studio Mimi—with beauty.
We believe beauty creates beauty. Books, objects, colours, and materials all resonate with us. They constantly nourish our imagination.
h: Looking at the evolution of fashion and beauty imagery over the past ten to fifteen years, what changes in representation, diversity or storytelling have interested you the most?
ZK: Image-making has become incredibly prolific. We’ve witnessed an unprecedented diversity of visual languages and perspectives. The return of analogue photography, new technologies that blur the boundaries between mediums, documentary aesthetics, the emergence of the female gaze—it’s all been deeply exciting.
For our generation, Instagram became an extraordinary window into the work of creatives around the world. More recently, we’ve also been delighted to see a renewed appreciation for printed matter and physical publications. There is something deeply satisfying about images returning to paper.
h: Beyond prestigious collaborations, how do you measure success? Is it in the images themselves, in the place you’ve built, or in what people take away from the Studio Mimi experience?
ZK: We measure success by the privilege of continuing to pursue our dreams. Simply being able to do what we love, day after day, year after year, already feels like success. We also find it in the enthusiasm that still drives us, and in the relationships of trust we’ve built with our team and our clients over time.
h: How do cinema, literature, and other visual art forms influence your compositions and the atmospheres you create?
ZK: Music is essential to everything we do. The pursuit of emotion is always at the heart of our work. Flavien is an obsessive music collector, while I’m an obsessive image collector. I’m constantly looking, collecting, revisiting, absorbing. To do what we do, you have to be a little obsessive.
h: Is there a recent collaboration that surprised you or took you into unexpected territory?
ZK: We recently collaborated with Nike Running on an ambitious project around their After Dark Tour race. It was incredibly energising to work alongside such rigorous, inspiring, and thoughtful teams. Projects like these push us creatively while reminding us how rewarding true collaboration can be.
h: As Studio Mimi continues to evolve, what new artistic, technical or spatial explorations excite you the most today?
ZK: We’re currently developing a new space inspired by the philosophy of Studio Mimi, together with our beloved team of architects. It’s an incredibly ambitious project that brings together everything we’ve learned from years of productions and shoots. We’re designing a truly bespoke place dedicated to creativity—a home for artists, photographers, and productions, conceived to offer the best possible environment for making images.
Images courtesy of STUDIO MIMI
