Paris: Design Now

Spring Sales

When French couturier Christian Lacroix founded his own fashion house in 1987, he commissioned a decor as distinctive as his own baroque fashion. Inspired by Lacroix’s native Provence and the vivid hues of his couture, French design duo Elizabeth Garouste and Mattia Bonetti (who now work independently) came up with a bewitching array of furnishings that incorporate terracotta, hammered metal and bullfighting motifs, transforming Lacroix’s Faubourg Saint Honoré salons into the “Théâtre de la Mode”. Chair backs had gilded “antennae” inspired by a grasshopper; accessories were displayed on faux coral branches; scarlet rugs were licked by black “flames”, dressing rooms were screened with Oriental moucharabiehs. The “new baroque” style echoed through the design world as a saucy challenge to sleek modernism. Now, with the closing of the couture house, about 100 lots of these unique furnishings, including sofas, tables, chairs, guéridons, sconces and doors, will go on the block at Sotheby’s Paris 20th-Century Decorative Arts and Design auction on May 26. website

On May 28, Christie’s presents its own alluring 20th-century decorative arts and design sale. Star pieces abound, notably, a collector-coveted rare Japanese-inspired sideboard, designed by Charlotte Perriand in 1958 and commissioned by its sole owner in 1967 (estimated at €70,000-€90,000). Among the others are a 1998 bronze Crocodile stool (estimated at €80,000-€120,000), and a unique dining room ensemble-a five-part table, a console and twelve chairs (€100,000-€150,000)-both by sculptor Claude Lalanne, who worked separately, but showed together with her late husband, François-Xavier. (The Lalannes are also featured at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris until July 6.)

And that’s just the start. The contents of French fashion designer Anne-Marie Beretta’s Parisian apartment include a spectacular circa 1920 alabaster ceiling light mounted in silvered bronze by Art Deco legend Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann (est. €200,000-€300,000) as well as a trio of designs in palm wood by Eugène Printz and a 1927 rug by Louis Süe and André Mare. Also on offer: furniture by 1940s designers André Arbus, Jacques Adnet and Gilbert Poillerat, and an 80-piece collection of cult artist Line Vautrin, the “poet of metal,” whose boxes embellished with number or word puzzles are a must on stylish Parisian coffee tables. website

Window Art

It’s a 20th-century art, but the practitioners-prosaically called window dressers-are usually far from famous. A renowned exception, Leïla Menchari, has concocted unforgettable scenery for the decorative windows at Hermès in Paris since 1978. Eight of the Tunisian-born artist’s enchanting creations are on show in Orient-Hermès, Voyages of Leïla Menchari, at the Institut du Monde Arabe until June 6. Her specialty: sheer fantasy. An Indian Festival throne room shimmers in silver, from the fox- draped, lion-embellished thrones themselves to a life-size elephant and mini-palm trees with silvery leather saddles and Kelly bags. The Indian Palace Terrace is a vision of lacy white and beige sculpted marble where a pristine plumed peacock perches next to a white crocodile Hermès handbag. An all-white tableau of Paris landmarks, studded with red, white and blue Hermès bags, signals Menchari’s conviction that “Paris is a fête!” Stands of straw weavers, metal carvers, stonecutters, glass artisans and saddle-makers as well as a Moroccan tea tent alternate with the Menchari exhibits that celebrate their craftsmanship. 1 rue des Fossés Saint-Bernard, 5th, 01.40.51.38.38. website

Chevalier Conservation in Paris has assured the care and restoration of historic tapestries and fine carpets for four generations. Now the latest generation has stepped forward with Chevalier Edition, created to produce both limited and unlimited collections of hand-knotted Nepal-quality rugs designed by contemporary artists. The spring collection includes French artist Philippe Cazal’s Trouble, where letters are scattered across the rug in an anagram; Parisian Claude Closky’s Ici where an X marks the spot on a white expanse; the colorful graphic bars of Prisons by Yale art department head Peter Halley; and New York and Amsterdam-based Lawrence Weiner’s Lost in Space spelled out in red on bright yellow. Unlimited editions are just as imaginative: Fashion firm Maison Martin Margiela offers tracks across solid-color fields in Empreintes; French designer Christian Ghion’s Network pictures a wavy grid in 3-D trompe-l’oeil. Viaduc des Arts, 1 ave Daumesnil, 12th, 01.43.07.87.44. website

Left Bank News

The Parisian design-as-art scene is going strong, with two new galleries in prestigious Saint Germain des Prés. Diane de Polignac is the latest galeriste of 20th century design and art to arrive on the booming rue de Lille. The elegant young Polignac’s equally elegant gallery is arranged with rare and unique 1930s-1960s furniture by such designers as Danes Hans J. Wegner, Finn Juhl and Nanna Ditzel. “These craftsmen loved nature and understood how to work with wood,” she says. “Their furniture is warm, human and seductive.” Sterling examples: Danish Modern icon Wegner’s exceptional 1967 Hammock chaise longue made of curved pale oak and yacht cordage; a 1947 prototype spindle-backed mahogany sofa by Ejner Larsen and Axel Bender Madsen; and Ditzel’s 1955 rosewood desk. Polignac also plans to produce contemporary designs. 16 rue de Lille, 7th, 06.14.74.77.05. website

Young antiquaire Guillaume de Casson’s name has figured prominently in the address books of design collectors ever since he jump-started the renaissance of the late, celebrated French designer Pierre Paulin in a first exhibit ten years ago. Now, from a gallery in eastern Paris, he has moved into haute design’s main drag on the rue de Seine to present rare 1960s and 1970s furniture by Paulin and two other major French designers, Olivier Mourgue and interior architect Michel Boyer. Outstanding pieces include the almost unknown 1973 Alpha International reproductions of Paulin’s Elysée Palace designs for President Georges Pompidou, and his 1966 Ribbon chair covered in Jack Lenor Larsen’s tiger-striped stretch fabric. Casson is also showing Mourgue’s iconic 1965 Djinn chair (it figured in Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey) and Boyer’s 1968 curved-steel “X” stools with leather cushions, and his coffee table in steel and smoked glass. 21 rue de Seine, 6th, 01.45.86.94.76. website