The first Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation Digital Artist grant was awarded to Xavier Ramette, whose project involved the design of a CD-ROM focusing on the quarries and catacombs of Paris, an artificial subterranean world that fascinates him. With this 3D CD-ROM, which encompasses sound, photos and synthesized images, Xavier leads us underground on a 250-km walk that allows us to explore France’s history through its quarries, from the French Revolution and the Commune to the Second World War. The CD-ROM also reveals how stone quarrying played a major role in the construction of Paris’s monuments. A game based on reality, it features 18th-century smuggling tunnels, a “Carthusian” treasure hunt, the battle between the Communards and the Versaillais and much more.
After studying for a DEA (post-graduate diploma) in multimedia design and communication at the University of Paris VIII, Xavier Ramette visited trade shows and businesses looking for jobs in the fields of training and desktop publishing. The Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation grant enabled him to turn his passion into reality. What’s more, the successful career of this talent young designer has only just begun!

Achievements since winning the grant
In 2004, Xavier contributed to the writing of L’Atlas du Paris Souterrain by Alain Clément and Gilles Thomas, published by Parigramme.