New Works by Jacques Jarrige

Valerie Goodman Gallery is presenting new works by Jacques Jarrige

See the table and console decorated by Swarovsky  with Crystal dust for an art fair in Paris earlier this Spring.

The table and console are available at Valerie Goodman Gallery in custom size and finishes. Great details with large drawers slidiing both ways. Fun and beautiful design

Stephane Parmentier

I recently met a furniture artist in Paris who designed a very interesting collection of accent pieces.

Lava stone stools / coffee tables and Wood and statuary Marble stools / coffee tables.

Stephane Parmentier started his career in fashion business. After having worked for Lanvin, Hervé Léger and Karl Lagerfeld, he has been director of the women’s ready-to-wear section for Givenchy and artistic director for Montana while launching his own line under his name. In 2005, in Paris, Tools Galerie shows his collection named « Petites architectures ». He is presently preparing for Christofle a collection « Maison »
In 2010, Stéphane Parmentier creates the “Lava” collection: a series of stools in Volvic stone, a dark black lava, well-known for its use in the making of the cathedral of Clermont Ferrand in the Auvergne region. The stools were conceived as hybrid objects that can be used as occasional tables, bedsides or simply stools. Their forms were inspired by the architecture of the airports from the 70’s (control towers, satellites of Roissy airport) gathering two domains that inspired the designer throughout his carreer: architecture and aviation.

See details

Salvaged Wood and Great Design

I recently came back from Paris where I met an interesting group of designers who create beautiful pieces from salvaged mahogany window frames and have a great story. The windows came from all kinds of properties in France and became through a sorting, cleaning and cutting process new material.

What happens is that the modern furniture has a soul inherited from old memories. Tru is a truly ecological venture with good  lyrical design.

The story is that in France there actually is a window replacement company, a major player in that field, that cares about the ecology so much that it set out to find a group of excellent designers to re-use the recuparated wood and create a sustainable furniture company.

In 2010, Fabrice Millet the industrialist, Damien Hamon the cabinet maker and Oliver Papet the designer set up the RU Edition Company.


Jacksons Booth at Modernism

Last Monday I visited Modernism at the Park Avenue Armory.

The exhibition looked very good overall but to me the most attractive booth was Jacksons

Jacksons specializes in the best of Scandinavian and international vintage design 1900 - 2000 with its main focus on Scandinavian classics.  

The collection really stands out, the choice of pieces is coherent and always of great quality.

Jacksons has a gallery in Stockholm and one in Berlin. 

Here are some of the pieces I liked but you can see online the depth of their inventory.

A set of “Poem” chairs by Erik Chamberts from 1953

A 1930’s glass table by Sven Markelius

A 1956 lounge chair by Franco Albini

A gigantic 50’s chandelier by Vilhelm Laurizten

Opening of Jacques Jarrige Exhibition

The opening was a great event to honor the work of Jacques Jarrige mixing other artists and friends.

The feedback so far is good: the work really stands out at a time when people crave for the handmade tactile and spiritual feel.

I visited on Friday the Kips Bay Show house, a yearly event to support the Boys and Girls Club

and I was once again struck with the amazing energy and talent displayed as a number of interior designers take on a room or area of an Upper East Side multi floor townhouse and turn them into jewels. Incredible attention to details in the floor, wall, design is omnipresent. I especially enjoyed the work of the design firm 2Michaels which I thought relayed very much to the work of Jacques Jarrige.

Read this blog post for detailed information about their exhibit

I also liked a lot the work of Nancy Boszhardt who took over a landing and transformed it into a simple, elegant, soulful and beautiful seating room

More on Nancy’s work

Another favorite was the dressing rooms by Darren Henault

The floors and wall covering were remarkable:

It is easy to feel isolated when working from a loft gallery where street traffic is limited so it felt inspiring to go to this event and connect with these brilliant decorators.

More on Jacques Jarrige

Claire le Douaron contacted me from Paris because she had taken pictures of Jacques and his creations at another workshop where he works located in a psychiatric hospital outside of Paris. Jarrige  and another artist design and produce pieces with patients, Claire is a doctor at the hospital.

They met when she had a little time between two patients.  She got intrigued by a sign she saw downstairs about a creative workshop and decided to investigate. She was fascinated by the rapport between Jacques and the patients and the amazing work that was produced. Jacques had taken the group to a nearby forest and they had collected wood to make sculptures and furniture. Serious design discussion and drawing sessions were taking place.

She got to know Jacques better because she was taken by him first  and the work she was discovering, she says

“I was surprised to feel emanating from his creations a soft light, a quiet freedom, a delicateness bordering on fragility even in newer more colorful pieces like the Cloud table series. His work looked and felt just like himself”

Installing the show part 2

 Jacques Jarrige tables have arrived and we are installing today:

Cloud is a series of cocktail tables with variations of colors and sizes: White lacquer and Anis, White and Coral, Black and Coral.  They work alone or as a group

Osselet (small bones) is a series of 6 hand sculpted stools that are very comfortable in addition to having an irresistible form.  They do look like a tooth

The space is coming alive.  Hanging are the Fiori chandeliers.

We also installed pairs of wall sconces from the Fiori family in brass and in aluminium.

Jacques sent a box of small objects, small sculptures and models of his work. We will display them on the shelves.

Yesterday I received a call from Claire Le Douaron who has been photographing Jacques and his work. I will post more later in the week but this is a great preview

More to come for the opening this Wednesday. 

Installing The Show….

The tension rises:  I am preparing for the opening of the Jacques Jarrige exhibition next week at my gallery http://www.valeriegoodmangallery.com .  Yesterday Michael Branning helped install the giant poster on the walls that is an image of Jacques’s atelier in Paris. It looks very good.  I received some of Jarrige’s  work  but other pieces are stuck in customs so it looks like we will be installing the show at the last minute.  But it’s coming together…

Please join us for the opening reception October 27^th from 6 – 9 pm

Furniture by Robert Daniel Gerard, ada Sam Gerard

I live in Rockland County next to the Lamont laboratory and one of my neighbors, Alice Gerard who recently lost her husband wrote a book about his work and their lives. Alice is an archeologist and an anthropologist. She is also the area’s historian. While visiting her I noticed some beautiful pieces of lighting and furniture and learned that her husband Sam had built them in the 60’s and 70’s.

Alice grew up in Palisades and went back to settle there after her marriage to Sam.  They had met at the university of New Mexico where Sam studied sculpture among other things.  In 1955, after a first job on the Vema , Lamont’s new oceanographic ship which took him on a cruise to the Azores, Casablanca and Portugal Sam started a 37 years career at Lamont Observatory. He worked on a series of scientific projects related to the ocean and invented a number of instruments to further research in that field. He was at sea often on the Vema and other boats, travelling as far as Argentina and Africa.

 In the early 60’s when the old teak decking on the Vema was replaced with steel Sam ended up with a lot of teak which he used to make lamps and tables. A boom was used to anchor the staircase in the house he, his wife and father in law had recently built.

The chandelier is reminiscent of work by Franco Albini for Fontana Arte from the 1960’s.  It is about transparency.  The wall lamp with a ceramic shade by a famous local artist is from the 70’s so are the chair, coffee table and other lamps.