GAROUSTE & BONETTI
Mattia Bonetti (Swiss, b. 1952) and Élisabeth Garouste (French, b. 1946) began their partnership in 1981, after both having taken varying paths in the creative world. Mattia Bonetti received his formal training in textiles at the Centro Scolastico per l’Industria Artistica in Lugano, and went on to work as an interior designer, a product designer, and an art photographer, before coming to fruition as the prolific furniture designer he is today. Garouste studied interior architecture at the École Camondo, Paris, and worked in the fashion business before she became infatuated by furniture design. The Paris-based design duo began to create extraordinarily inventive and unconventional furniture, and soon after starting their joint venture, Garouste & Bonetti were commissioned to create some of the most celebrated French interiors of the era, including Château de Boisgeloup, the 18th-century Normandy home of Pablo Picasso, as well as the Privilège club.
Joining David Gill Gallery in 1988, they further developed their signature style, quirky and witty, whilst harbouring a sense of grandeur; a subtle brilliance. In 1989, they exhibited their iconic ‘Autumn Leaves’ collection at David Gill Gallery, which included Desk ‘Chequered’, Chair ‘Grand Central’, and Firedogs ‘Inspirale Espirale’. These works established a playful, eclectic vocabulary that became the hallmark of their design practice. This new direction of design lead to Garouste & Bonetti’s prestigious title of Designers of the Year at the International Furniture Fair in 1991.
There is a history of furniture woven into their designs, but they remain uniquely avant-garde, revolutionary in their disregard for many of the leading principles of 20th century decorative arts, the principles that viewed ornamentation as a crime and retained a lasting attachment to the classic, refined French aesthetic. They likened their studio to a laboratory of Haute Couture, expressing that ‘our hope is to give people the feeling of freedom in the choice of forms. Good taste really bothers us a lot. What we care about is implanting doubt. We don’t have any rules.’ Their most memorable works such as the sleek and elegant Chest of Drawers 'St. Petersburg' and innovative Bench ‘Skittle’, have a dazzling, fanciful aspect. They are surreal and eccentric, but whimsically so.
Garouste & Bonetti designed a series of diverse and impressive collections, including a created a bespoke collection for Nina Ricci. The duo also designed the furniture and interiors for Christian Lacroix’s Paris Salon in 1987, transforming Lacroix’s ‘Maison de Couture’ into a complete work of art, from sycamore chairs to wool rugs.
Multi-faceted by nature and anti-bourgeois in spirit, the duo’s combined vision evolved into an iconic example of contemporary design, indelible in collective memory, and celebrated in a multitude of international exhibitions, such as Musée des Arts Décoratif, Bordeaux (1985); ‘Élisabeth Garouste & Mattia Bonetti, 1981-2001’, Grand Hornu, Brussels (2001); ‘French Designer’s Show House’, New York (1993); and ‘The Most Contemporary French Design’, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (1988). Their work has further been featured in public collections at the Guggenheim Museum, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Victoria & Albert Musuem; anf Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York.
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