Pierre Yovanovitch has fine-tuned his craft of imbuing historic, timeworn spaces with contemporary panache. One key element that elevates his interiors is not only sourcing vintage furnishings and museum-worthy artworks but also creating made-to-measure furniture for his design practice—an alchemy that allows him to oscillate between the past and future. This fall, after more than two decades in practice and two years after launching his eponymous furniture brand, the French designer will open his first standalone gallery in the heart of Marais. The 2,700-square-foot storefront, a former fashion atelier redesigned by Jean Nouvel that once belonged to filmmaker Claude Berri, will feature a succession of rooms functioning as a veritable showcase of his talents, showing off signature Pierre Yovanovitch Mobilier pieces—the Stella Table and Oops Chair among them—alongside artworks by the likes of Tadashi Kawabata and Francesco Clemente.
To commemorate the opening, Yovanovitch tapped longtime friend Claire Tabouret to create a limited-edition series celebrating the ten-year anniversary of his Asymmetry Chair. Playing off the themes of childhood, movement, and fragility, the series incorporates the artistry of French craft specialist Atelier Jouffre, who helped Yovanovitch bring his vision—he originally created it using modeling clay—to life. Inaugurating his gallery with Tabouret’s take on one of his greatest hits is particularly fitting. “Having known Claire for a decade, the collection is in many ways a reflection of our friendship and creative synergy,” he says. “The richness of her work and the common theme of childhood bring transience, poetry, color, and movement to this otherwise geometric, almost rock-like form.”
