“Andree had an extraordinary eye that allowed her to focus on quintessential pieces that were both modern and minimalist and still almost forgotten,” says Pascal Lapeyre, director of Ecart International since 2011.
“In fact, it was a reasoned catalog of the history of the aesthetics of current design. The shapes of these pieces are somehow timeless, as appealing to people today as they were 100 years ago. “
A steamed oak dresser by Jean-Michel Frank.
The Ecart team keeps the offering fresh, and appeals to a vibrant new clientele, exploring new natural materials and current color combinations. From time to time, they will dig up a piece that has never been made before and decide to put it into production. Expect a trouser press designed by Eileen Gray to come to light early next year, an invisible desk and a few Jean-Michel Frank armchairs as well.
“It doesn’t hurt that we appeal to a lot of luxury brands asking Ecart to provide parts for their stores,” Lapeyre shrugs. “Dior, for example, and Cartier; this presence ensures that the pieces are always shown in a contemporary and changing context “.
Ecart owns some Chareau furniture. But the IP of the vast majority of the catalog, and most importantly, the lighting, is in the hands of the Galerie MCDE. It was created to market dramatically sculptural alabaster pieces in the late 1980s.
“Chareau was working at the height of the Art Deco era, that is, between the era of artisanal, artisanal production and mass industrial production,” says Pierre-Emmanuel Risch, who now directs. the gallery. “That’s why their designs were never produced in large quantities. And yet what’s amazing is that while the lighting pieces are clearly from their time, they could also have been designed in past “.
I do not know what was in the water of Paris in the 20s and 30s, but happy birthday, old friends.
Ecart International and Galerie MCDE products are available exclusively at Criteria Collection, Melbourne.
The July issue of AFR will be published on Friday 24 June in The Australian Financial Review. Follow AFR Mag on Twitter and Instagram.