Marina Raphael works between three creative worlds: the sculptural handbags of her own brand, the House of Elie Saab, and the crystal heritage of her family's name. Rather than keep them apart, she lets them argue with one another. She talks about what each has taught her, and why she doesn't want a fixed way of designing.

What drew Raphael to Elie Saab was the clarity of its world. The House, she says, has "an extraordinary ability to create an entire world around a woman," one that is feminine, confident and almost dreamlike, yet underpinned by exceptional savoir-faire. Working alongside Mr. Saab himself was an opportunity she could not turn down.

It also took her somewhere new. Where her own instinct is architectural, Mr. Saab introduced something more fluid, expressive and romantic.

"I became very interested in the point where those two sensibilities meet, because that tension can create something neither of us would necessarily arrive at independently."

Her ambition from the start was for the bags to feel intrinsic to the Maison, "rather than accessories designed around it." They should keep an element of fantasy, she says, but ultimately "they are objects women live with, touch and carry every day."

Translating couture into something carried daily begins with identifying what makes it distinctive beyond the dress: movement, sensuality and extraordinary attention to detail. The Signature Petite Wave bag is her clearest example. The Wave emblem comes from the "S" of Saab, but rather than becoming an overt logo, it was developed into a sculptural signature that shapes the handle, informs the hardware and defines the architecture of the bag.

Softness and structure are in constant conversation. Supple leather sits against a strong gold handle, and a feminine silhouette is built with precision. Raphael is clear that this is not couture shrunk down.

"The objective isn't to miniaturize couture into an accessory. It is to take its values, precision, beauty and an obsessive attention to detail, and turn them into something tactile, functional and lasting."

ELIE SAAB: "À Fleur de Peau"

The starting point for SS27 was softness and intimacy, "something whisper-close to a woman's skin." The ready-to-wear collection, À Fleur de Peau, grew from romanticism and delicacy, expressed through flowing gowns, lace trims, silky textures and pastels. The bags answer with a dialogue between opposites.

Light, tactile raffia in ivory and natural tones sits beside the harder metal of the Petite Wave, and a new silhouette joins the family. The fluidity of the clothing informed the curved forms, while more defined shapes counter the liquid gowns. The palette moves from ivory, blush and natural tones to deeper blacks and browns.

"There is a very deliberate conversation happening between the clothes and the bags, not through literal matching, but through proportion, texture, movement and mood."

On the runway, the Petite Wave appears in soft napa leather and embossed crocodile, joined this season by a more rounded interpretation and shoulder bags that develop the Wave flap in new proportions and finishes. For evening, the Crystal Midnight clutch, fully embellished with Swarovski crystals, is "a real statement piece."

Codes and a new generation

Raphael has been credited with injecting new energy into the category, but she doesn't see House codes and modernity as opposing forces.

"The strongest codes are the ones that can be interpreted and expressed differently over time."

What is fundamental to Elie Saab, she says, is confidence, femininity, exceptional craftsmanship and a particular sense of beauty. Freshness comes from asking what those values mean now, creating pieces that resonate with a new generation "without chasing youth or trends for their own sake."

"You know exactly what you stand for, which gives you the freedom to move forward."

A language learned early

As a sixth-generation member of the Swarovski family, Raphael grew up fluent in crystal. "It has always felt like a natural language to me," she says. "When you grow up around it, you develop an instinctive understanding of its possibilities, how it responds to light, how it can transform a surface and how the smallest adjustment in placement can completely change the feeling of a piece."

The deeper inheritance, she explains, is precision: beauty is often the result of technical knowledge the viewer never sees. Today she is interested in what crystal can do beyond decoration. Can it articulate a line, emphasise construction, create movement or alter the perception of a silhouette?

"Respecting it doesn't mean repeating what came before; it means understanding the knowledge behind it enough to take it somewhere new."

Three worlds, no formula

Moving between her own brand, Elie Saab and Swarovski keeps her from settling into one way of designing. Her eponymous label draws on her architectural instinct, questioning what a handbag can look like and how it can function. Elie Saab has drawn out a softer, more sensual and emotionally driven side. Swarovski introduces light: "When you work with crystal, surface is no longer static; it responds to movement and changes according to how an object is seen."

"They have taught me not to think in binaries: something can be sculptural and emotional, functional and fantastical, delicate and strong."

The woman who carries it

Raphael doesn't picture her client in one setting. She imagines a woman moving between professional, social and personal life, expecting what she owns to move with her.

"She shouldn't have to choose between something useful and something beautiful, or feel that femininity comes at the expense of strength."

She hopes the bag gives its owner confidence and ease, with enough character to feel distinctive without overpowering her. It "shouldn't wear her." She also wants it to reward attention over time, from the engineering of the hardware to the finish of the leather and the precision of a seam.

"The best bag eventually becomes part of your instinct: you reach for it without thinking, yet you never stop appreciating why it feels special."

Away from the studio, Raphael finds her balance in travel and nature, though she admits these are also where she observes most. She loves discovering local craftsmanship passed from one generation to another, and is drawn to tropical destinations and to Africa for the intensity of their landscapes and colours. She can spend hours studying the geometry of a flower, the surface of a leaf or the markings on wildlife, and is equally fascinated by the underwater world.

"What I love about nature is that nothing feels overly designed, and yet the level of detail is extraordinary."

Looking ahead

Asked whom she would most like to collaborate with, Raphael doesn't name a name. She is interested in the exchange itself: collaborations where "neither person is simply entering the other's world, but both are willing to create a third language together." She wants shared values around craftsmanship and quality, and is keen to look beyond fashion, to sculptors, architects and artisans whose disciplines would change how she thinks about an object.

"The point of collaboration is to be taken somewhere I wouldn't necessarily go alone."