For many years I have been following the work of the uber talented French furniture, lighting and jewelry designer Herve Van Der Straeten. His inventive use of contrasting materials, mastery of proportion and unique treatment of surfaces have made him one of the most sought after and collected designers working today. Van Der Straeten began his career designing jewelry but quickly parlayed those forms into bronze chandeliers and sculptural furniture so beautiful that Ralph Pucci and many other design curators took notice. In addition to jewelry and furniture design Van Der Straeten also designed the now iconic J’adore perfume bottle for Dior. Some of his furniture designs have already been purchased by the Mobilier National, which has collected works of important artists since the 17th century. An extraordinary achievement for a current contemporary designer but Van Der Straeten is in a league of his own.
Herve Van Der Straeten at home
J’adore perfume bottle designed by Van Der Straeten for Dior
425 Console Propogation and 445 Miroir Nebuleuse
Lacquered steel, bronze, colored resin, glass and gold leaf are used in the most interesting combinations to create Van Der Staeten’s arresting work. Many of the pieces are reflective and have an incredible amount of depth to the surfaces and take serious amounts of time to produce. Visible to the eye upon close inspection is the care that Van Der Straeten takes in designing and fabricating these pieces with his twenty plus master craftsmen in a suburb of Paris, called Bagnolet. These pieces are being sanded, welded and polished in ways that are not seen in today’s furniture market and he even uses automotive painting techniques to produce the mirror finish surfaces in some of the new works that are fetching upwards of $100,000.00 as a result. There is a clarity to the designs that seems to come from having so many talented metal, wood and other material experts crafting the works in one place with Van Der Straeten directing the show. It’s an old world way of working but as a team they are producing things that are very innovative and pushing boundaries in materiality. In addition to the works on view currently at Ralph Pucci in New York, close up views of some of the jewelry, light fixtures and spectacular furniture is captured in his Paris gallery here on Interieurs.fr
416 Meuble Epines
424 Bout de Canape Inclination, 414 Console Passage Aluminum and 446 Miroir Lollypop on view at Ralph Pucci
446 Miroir Lollypop
Candlesticks from the “Dissonances” series
414 Console Passage Aluminum Laque Rouge
Thank you Ralph Pucci and Geordy Maish for sharing Herve Van Der Staeten’s show with The Gilded Owl. The Herve Van Der Straeten exhibition will continue through May 15th at Ralph Pucci 44 West 18th Street 12th floor Penthouse New York, NY.
Galerie Van Der Straeten is located at 11, rue Ferdinand Duval 75004 PARIS
Photographs of the Ralph Pucci gallery exhibition by Antoine Bootz.
Portrait by Kourtney Roy.