I am so happy to have Emma from The Marion House Book with me today for Furniture Fridays. Emma and I did our Interior Design degrees together, and since finishing she has gone on to wonderful and inspiring things! Not only is she the editor and writer of The Marion House Book - a fantastic blog about her stunning Toronto home and everything that takes place surrounding it - but she is one of the very creative minds behind the design studio Marion Melbourne. Her house has been featured in high profile design magazines and websites and is a beautiful, modern family home. Thanks for stopping by Emma!
I’m not good at choosing favorites! I actually find the whole process quite stressful. Picking one thing seems so definitive and it pains me to think of all the other beautiful objects that are left out. Having said that, sometimes it has to be done. I could have chosen a handful (or I should say handfuls) of furniture pieces that I love (Hans Wegner Wishbone Chairs and Serge Mouille light fixtures come to mind) but I thought I would pluck out one particularly unusual and quite extraordinary object to showcase today. In fact, everything these two French designers created is worthy of a favorite designation.
I first came to know about the French design team known as Claude and Francois Xavier Lalanne through an L.A. photographer and blogger named Laure Joliet. She is actually related to the artistic duo and last year received as a present one of their designs -- a magnificentchocolate brown Crapuad chair.
The Lalanne’s who worked in France during the 1950-60s favoured animal and vegetative themes and claimed that the, “the supreme art is the art of living.” Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge were early supporters and commissioned pieces by the design duo.
While I love the crapaud chair, my favourite piece is the rhinoceros desk orRhinocretaire designed by Francois Xavier.
Talk about a conversation piece! Can you imagine having this work of art in your living room or study? Everything else would fade away. In recent years, Claude and Francois Xavier Lalanne’s work has been celebrated in exhibitions around the world. Their objects certainly blur the line between furniture and sculpture. It is probably unrealistic to imagine I will ever own a piece bythis talented team but I can always dream!
A big thanks to Anna for having me over and letting me indulge my furniture fantasy.
Those are definitely statement pieces. How very unique!
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