Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Pleasantly different

Elizabeth Delacarte left her older Haussmannian apartment in Paris for a building from the 1930s with cleaner lines, more open volumes. With the ornate style of furnishing she favors, she felt too many moldings and decorative details would be, well , too much. It's nice to have your own gallery of contemporary limited edition furnishings to choose from when you furnish your home. Most of us would settle for just a piece or two from her palette of modern baroque designers and some might say that anything more would be overdone.

The console, clock, and fish candlestick above are by Mark Brezier-Jones. Painting signed by
Francois-Marie Antonioz.

The Turkish red entrance sets the stage for the apartment's most dramatic piece, a Hubert Le Gall cabinet studded with carved panels of varying sizes that give its surface a heaving rhythm from top to bottom. Table by Hervé van der Staeten, mirror Hubert LeGall, rug Robert Le Héros.

Details of the precious and imposing cabinet-bar by Hubert Le Gall: the exterior is composed of a set of boxwood stamps from the 19th century destined to illustrate a history book ordered by Louis-Philippe - historic scenes, architectural elements, battles, etc are encased in bronze. Sheathed with poirier noirci, the inside of the cabinet evokes a tabernacle but a closer look shows its contents to be a conglomerate of pretzels and salty crackers molded in bronze. C'est l'heure de l'apéro ! If I were to choose one piece for my own home, this one would do. I might just settle for the clock in the first picture.

Bookcase-sideboard of dark stained oak and bronze specially designed for the space
by Frank Evennou Tables "Marguerite" of bronze and resin by Hubert Le Gall, sofas by Alexis de la Falaise, mirror and sconces by Mark Brezier-Jones, fauteuils "Trevise" of painted steel by André Dubreuil. I would have prefered the Dubreuil chairs near the windows; the sofa doesn't sit well with me in that position. Of course, we can't see the whole room.
Commode by Mino
Rug by André Dubreuil, oak and bronze desk and lamp by Frank Evennou, S-chair by Tom Dixon, miniature desk by Laurence Picot, painting Bruno Dufourmantel

See many more examples of these designer's numbered series at Avant-scène

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