Visceral inspirations guide Twenty First Gallery's showcase at Salon Art + Design

At Salon Art + Design 2024, taking place from November 7 - 11, 2024, in New York, USA, Twenty First Gallery is showcasing a series of carefully curated pieces by various established and experimental creatives. Intending to celebrate craftsmanship in contemporary design while platforming bold objects that sit well within modern spaces, the American design gallery is presenting several functional and decorative indoor objects at Park Avenue Armory in New York. Remaining true to Twenty First's overarching philosophy, each piece is the result of expert craftsmanship and illustrious quality. Alluding to this defining characteristic, Hervé Winkler, one half of RoWin'Atelier—one of the studios showcasing at the gallery's booth at the ongoing design event—states, "Our initial research to find artisans who work with respect and passion, their production techniques and materials, are what define our work."

Some studios and designers whose works are on display at Twenty First Gallery's booth include Erwan Boulloud, Emmée Parizot, RoWin'Atelier, Giuseppe Ducrot, François Corbeau, Jean Grisoni, Marcin Rusak, Alexandra Mocanu, Nathalie Ziegler, Vincent Corbière, Béatrice Serre, Richard Texier and Hubert Le Gall. The pieces on display include a sofa, tables, cabinets, mirrors, a chandelier, lamps, wall installations and decorative sculptural designs. Almost all the pieces are made using contemporary materials such as stainless steel, brass, glazed ceramic, glass and marble, with slight additions of wood, bronze and lapis-lazuli inlay.

The gallery's booth was co-curated and imagined by Paris-based scenographer and interior designer, Jean de Piépape, who aimed to create a resolutely modern ambience. "I envisioned it as the home of the design collector, with a predilection for forms that recall those in nature," de Piépape shares.

France-born Erwan Boulloud's cabinet design exhibited at the design fair fuses various materials together, such as wood, bronze, brass, steel, glass, gold leaf, inlaid precious stones and preserved exotic butterfly specimens. The Lororo II (2023) cabinet, whose jewel-like surface features a complex array of concentric patterns, is reflective of the French designer's myriad intellectual quests. Rome-based Giuseppe Ducrot's Celadons Sconces (2022) and Pair of White Amphorae II (2023) ceramic sculptures, on the other hand, bear Greek and Roman influences with a hint of Baroque expressionism. The Italian ceramicist comes from a long line of designers and builders. Among the other pieces adorning the wall over Boulloud's cabinet are Vincent Corbière's Mermaid’s Purse Mirror II (2024), Béatrice Serre's Blue Sun Mirror (2024) and Hubert Le Gall's Carafon Mirror (2012).

Paris-based Jean Grisoni's Sampolo Mirror (2020), characterised by a crisscrossed layer of patinated bronze rods, highlights the textures and contrasts of his chosen material. Since the overall design is fairly minimalistic, dynamism is added to the piece via the incongruity in tone and texture. French painter and sculptor Richard Texier's patinated bronze Savana Circus Lamp (2019) references fantastical tree trunks and Nathalie Ziegler's Heliolite Mirror (2022) and La Forêt Glass Candleholders (2023) evoke images of plants.

French sculptor Emmée Parizot's black-patinated bronze Party and Triumph Vases (2024) and Mirror of the Seabed (2024) reference her interpretations of scriptures and mythology. The mirror is inscribed with six different figures that could allude to family, strangers or mythical sea dwellers. Twenty First's founder Renaud Vuaillat shares, "Its intricate design combines elements of antiquity with a mythical narrative, celebrating the rich heritage of underwater life." Similarly, the vases are adorned with both seated and moving characters, decorated with an array of hats and costumes.

Parisian studio RoWin’Atelier, founded by Frédéric Rochette and Hervé Winkler, showcases the sculptural Conq Sofa (2023), which is lavishly upholstered in plush deep-purple velvet with bronze insets. Seated in the middle of the booth, it serves as a perfect centrepiece with Hubert Le Gall's Jenny Tables (2022). The Jenny Tables, contrastingly serve as a nod to the aquatic world with their puddle-shaped tops.

French artist François Corbeau's Bronze Bas Relief Credenza 5 Doors (2023) cabinet is defined by rippling, polished bronze doors that resemble the surface of the water. Its gleaming finish reflects both the observer and the surrounding environment. Corbeau, with his cabinet design, gives a contemporary twist to dinanderie metalwork techniques that date back to mediaeval Europe. Marcin Rusak's Protoplasting Nature Chandelier 230 (2024) serves as a novel experimentation by the Polish designer. Instead of using real flowers to sculpt this design, Rusak incorporated 3D scans of leaves, which were then cast in bronze and attached to branch-like arms that gracefully twist and turn, giving the light fixture the impression of being in motion.

Bucharest-born French-Romanian artist Alexandra Mocanu's Tapestry N36 (2019) wall installation is a hand-woven wool feature on cotton canvas. Mocanu describes her artistic process as a "painting by numbers" game. She starts by creating a gouache, whose brushstrokes are painstakingly replicated in wool. The French artist's tapestry, thus, defined by a series of lines and fluctuating colours, appears, from a distance, like a framed painting that asserts the trompe-l’œil effect.

The gallery's showcases encapsulate several historically significant techniques, visceral inspirations, natural references and detailed craftsmanship while managing to adhere to contemporary aesthetics.