Alexandre Labruyère's nature-inspired designs breathe life into Milan Design Week

The designer Alexandre Labruyère will be exhibiting four collections of furniture and product designs, from April 17 to 23, 2023 in the Villetta building at Alcova, during Milan Design Week 2023. All the furniture that he has designed for the design fair is made to order and measure, and in line with its natural inspirations, all raw material comes from the Hauts de France and is used with a reasoned approach. Oak, ash, sycamore, and red oak are carefully selected and sent directly to the sawmill.

The Bettoïa 

'Flowers invite themselves inside, the stem reveals itself, the meadow takes shape.' 

A wooden vase with soft and elegant lines, Bettoïa is a soothing object, whose main function is to bring nature inside our living spaces. This function responds to the growing need to reconnect with our natural environment, represented here by dried flowers. Bettoia though it sounds like the name of a flower, is the name of the designer's great-grandmother, to whom he wanted to pay tribute with the first object he created. Wooden vases are beautiful objects, but how do you bring the grace that glass vases give to the plant? To make the entirety of the natural element visible—to sublimate it from the petal almost to the root? These questions formed the principle from which Labruyère imagined Bettoia, the first object in his collection. The various dimensions of Bettoia allow everyone to personalise their 'interior meadow'—as the designer calls it. The different sizes adapt to all the rooms of the house (bedroom, office, living room) and allow to emphasise the highest stems.

Floa Collection

'As if in weightlessness, the form seeks to emancipate itself from its function to gain in lightness.'

From the English word 'floated,' Floa refers to the lightness of a levitating element. Here, the top shelf appears to float above the furniture, creating the function of the niche. The contrasting colour treatment reinforces the impression of suspension that emanates from it, bringing a great lightness, and allowing furniture to be in the middle of the room, without visually cluttering the space. To play between finesse and solidity, the collection is entirely hand carved.

Pétiole collection

'Held back by its branch, the hanging leaf seems to fly.'

Inspired by the natural principle of the petiole, the stem attaches the leaf to the branch, and they become one. It is a line of objects, all in smoothness and fluidity that the designer showcases for visitors to see. Here, the base is the element that holds the whole object. Worked with the technique of steam bending, the wood is pushed to the limits of its elasticity. The lines thus created bring a great lightness to the whole piece of furniture, whose backrest or top—the leaf—sculpted by hand, seems to be naturally linked to the legs. Pushed to its limits, the wood shows the power of its support to the back, all in lightness and fluidity.

Roseaux Collection

'As you wander through the marshes, you let yourself be carried by the movement of the reeds and their luminous softness.'

Like a curtain of reeds, the rhythm created by the beech stems lets the light filter through and softens the rhythmic surface. This collection explores the visual sensations created by the reeds as the light passes through. The alternation of full and empty, the shifts in height, everything is thought and shaped to remind us of these landscapes. The colour of the used wood allows playing contrasts between the clear and the dark, in order to better shed light upon the elements of the furniture.

STIR’s coverage of Milan Design Week 2023 showcases the best exhibitions, studios, designers, installations, brands, and special projects to look out for. Explore Euroluce 2023 and all the design districts—5Vie Art and Design, Brera Design District, Fuorisalone, Isola Design District, Tortona District, and Milano Design District—with us.