La collection Essences: Furniture Designs

La collection Essences, Jean Nouvel Furniture Design, Photos, Pictures, Architect

La collection Essences : Furniture Designs by Jean Nouvel

Architectural Interior Designs by Jean Nouvel, Paris, France, Europe

7 Jun 2012

La collection Essences

Jean Nouvel Furniture Designs

PHILOSOPHY

The “Essences” collection designed by Jean Nouvel is the bet to revitalize the furniture industry in Périgord through contemporary creation. It is a bet on quality through the use of solid wood, transmission of know-how, support for the local economy (wood, crafts, trade).

Initiated, from a table model, boxes, trays and boxes, of the same dimensions and available in several species of local woods (ash, oak, cherry, walnut, cedar, pine, birch) the collection will be gradually extended in the coming months to other types of furniture.

La collection Essences La collection Essences Furniture La collection Essences Furniture Design
photos © Jean Nouvel Design

“It’s not just the essence of wood, but the essence of things: a table, touch, the nobility of a material, an assembly. It seems to me urgent to find the essence of things, to oppose the era of “canada dry”, that is to say of the elimination of all essences.

I believe in the modernity of wood. An object must correspond to a series of sensations, to the logic of a material, of a program, of the proportions: qualities which old objects naturally had, must be found, because they are essential, in objects correspond to our way of life, to the evolution of the aesthetics of the world: these are the witnesses of the time.

There is also the expression of completion and refinement; The logic of proportions is obvious: the object is beautiful in itself, it does not owe its elegance to any technical prowess. It comes close to the object of art.

It has a touch, a smell, a color, an aesthetic: the softness of the wood is incredible. The collection suggests the hyper-sensoriality of wood, its tactility.

We worked a lot with Eric Rouchon to show the grain of the wood, to soften the angles, to smooth the surfaces. We still have a lot to learn; by developing this collection with him and his team of companions, we hope to find, reinterpret and radicalize them in contemporary forms, selection techniques, assemblies and wood finishing. The clever assemblages that create anomalies make the small refinements and the singularity of the project.

La collection Essences La collection Essences Furniture La collection Essences Design
photos © Jean Nouvel Design

This collection is a demonstration: it makes people understand the difference between wood species and in this sense has an educational value. It proceeds in a serial manner: the same table is available in the same proportions but in different species: birch, oak, cedar, cherry, pine, ash, walnut; ash is the lightest and most even, walnut is the darkest but can have many variations, the smell of cedar, veined in gray is powerful, etc … They are revealed in this way and without being blurred by varnish or stain, the variations and natural rhythms of wood.

Each wood has a way of finishing, corresponding to its aesthetic. Each object is precious, refers to a notion of ultra-refinement.

It expresses in particular through its blends a culture that is still alive. The objects are monolithic, mono materials, the assemblies vary according to the functionality of each object. They reveal the “mass” of the wood. They are emotional in that sense.

In terms of typology, a series of tables, available in 7 Perigord wood species, is the starting point of the project. The tables are the supports for additional objects: boxes and small boxes that are stacked for this preview, and which will be added in the coming months to new objects to quickly create a real collection. ” Jean Nouvel

Jean Nouvel

JEAN NOUVEL

Jean Nouvel:
Jean Nouvel
photo © Gaston Bergeret

Pritzker Prize

Jean Nouvel was awarded the 2008 Pritzker Prize in Washington, the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for architects. Recognized as one of the greatest contemporary architects, he has built around the world. In France he has just inaugurated the city hall of Montpellier and, abroad is currently carrying out the extension of Moma in New York, the Louvre Museum of Abu Dhabi, Jean Nouvel’s activities are divided between AJN, the Jean Nouvel architecture workshops, as well as the JND Jean Nouvel Design studios and showroom, all grouped together at 10 Cité d’Angoulème in Paris.

Sarlat

Born August 12, 1945, in Fumel, Jean Nouvel spent most of his childhood and adolescence in Sarlat, a town of 12,000 inhabitants to which he has never ceased to return and recharge his batteries with his family. In 1999, responsible for renovating the Sainte Marie church, which had been converted into a covered market, he provided the building with monumental doors, and extended the project with the construction of a panoramic elevator, opened in early 2012. From this frequentation with Sarlat, was born spontaneously the project to develop a partnership between Jean Nouvel Design and Eric Rouchon cabinetmaker, also owner with his wife Bernadette of a furniture and decoration store in the main street of Sarlat.

Essences

The “Essences” collection designed by Jean Nouvel is the bet to revitalize the furniture industry in Périgord through contemporary creation. It is a bet on quality through the use of solid wood, transmission of know-how, support for the local economy (wood, crafts, trade). Initiated, from a table model, boxes, trays and boxes, of the same dimensions and available in several species of local wood (ash, oak, cherry, walnut, cedar, pine, birch) the collection will be gradually extended in the coming months to other types of furniture.

AJN : 12 références

1987 : Nemausus, Nimes logements sociaux expérimentaux
1989 : Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris
1992 : CLMBBDO, agence de publicité, Issy les Moulineaux
1993 : Musée Gallo Romain, Périgueux
1998 : Tour Dentsu, Tokyo
1999 : Musée Reina Sofia, Madrid
2000 : ZKM centre de culture et de congrès, Lucerne
2001 : Eglise Sainte Marie, Sarlat
2006 : Musée du Quai Branly, Paris
2008 : concert House, Danish Radio, Copenhague
2010 : Hotel Sofitel, Vienne
2012 : Hotel de Ville, Montpellier

JND : 12 références

1987 : la caisse à outils / Via
1990 : Saint James , chaises et fauteuils / édition Roset
1991 : Elémentaire : collection de canapés / édition Matteo Grassi
1996 : Less : tables et totems de rangements / édition Unifor
1999 : 1=2 table /edition Estel
2005 : Tea and coffee Towers / Alessi
2006 : Flying surfaces / editions Troll
2008 : Grand Ecart / Pallucco
2010 : Hook, cloison / editions Methis Coopsete
2011 : Table au kilometre/ galeries Patrick Seguin, Gagosian
2012 : Mia: chaise / Emu
2012 : Essences / Eric Rouchon

ERIC ROUCHON

Established since 1918 in Montignac and Sarlat, the Meubles ROUCHON company has been working with solid and veneered wood for 3 generations. The company employs around ten companions who are passionate about their work and the love of wood which is so difficult to master but how fascinating: It lives, survives and never dies.

Global competition has crippled the furniture industry in France. Périgord, land of tradition of savoir-vivre and know-how, had many furniture factories, but unfortunately I remain the last of the Mohicans.

In this difficult context, and with Bernadette, my wife, we created different lines of furniture. The latest collection “Esprit de Châteaux” reflects the values of the traditional heritage of furniture made in our country.

We participate with our editions at Maison & amp; Object for 10 years. Our collections are sold in France and abroad: we have a showroom in Shanghai, Moscow, Algiers, High Point (USA) and distributors in various European countries.

Finally, in our store in Sarlat in Périgord, we present our creations and carry out the interior decoration of our customers’ homes.

We are, like everyone else in Sarlat, great admirers of the work of Jean Nouvel, “the child of the country”. This is why we have wanted for several years to develop some form of collaboration with him. We regularly meet Jean Nouvel in the streets of Sarlat, we know his parents who are also great Sarlat figures, and we have thus nurtured the project of creating a collection with him, which would put our know-how at the service of his creativity. We therefore undertook this project in early 2012, establishing a partnership with the Jean Nouvel Design team.

This partnership has changed our habits. Our team found with this new project the taste of inventiveness, development, finish. The first presentation is only a preview of a collection that will unfold over the years.

For this collection, “Essences,” we only use solid wood, of local origin. We strive to combine very high know-how, with fair and affordable prices.

We are opening in Sarlat next to our store and our traditional furniture, a Jean Nouvel “show room”, which will host the furniture as it is created and no doubt other editions of Jean Nouvel that we admire.

It’s a gamble and we are very proud to now place ourselves, with the support of Jean Nouvel, on the world scene of contemporary furniture.

La collection Essences – Jean Nouvel Furniture Design images / information from Atelier Jean Nouvel

Jean Nouvel Architect

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