Inspiration
Garnier and Linker, Experts of the Materials
They show us materials we had forgotten about. Guillaume Garnier and Florent Linker are creators. Skilled men who play with rare savoir-faire they reinterpret in a contemporary way. Their studio is a place for testing and developing. Their skilled fingers, shaped during their years at the Camondo school, bring life to references to the Art Deco period and to sculpture. They try new things on alabaster, plaster and bronze. The goal? A complete metamorphosis into pieces of furniture and lights. Thanks to this transformation, Garnier and Linker enhance the miracles of nature in simple forms, because they want to show its complexity and powers. The magic happens thanks to the work of French art workshops. This birthplace of crafts managed to highlight unknown and sometimes centenarian materials, such as obsidian and Kitayama cedar. Garnier and Linker discovered and thought them so that they could be changed by every architect and interior designer in accordance to the needs of the project. A visit at the crossroads of two worlds. The first one is common and the second one more personal, since we went to Guillaume Garnier’s apartment.
You can discover the work of Garnier and Linker from March, 13th to April, 7th in the gallery Joyce. 168 galerie de Valois – 75001 Paris. Open hours: 13h30 – 18h30.
Author
Caroline Balvay
Photos and videos
Constance Gennari
TSF
How did you two meet? What is your story?
Guillaume & Florent
We met when we were studying interior design in Camondo. After our degree, we have both worked for a year before starting to work together.
TSF
How did you get the idea and desire to create lights?
Guillaume & Florent
The origin of our work is above all the materials we want to highlight through simple forms. The idea to use light fast appeared as an interesting way to achieve this. For example, the alabaster is a very efficient and warm filter and the obsidian shows its inside complexity and its wavy lines only when it’s lighted.
TSF
Who is your mentor?
Guillaume & Florent
Among the first ones who helped us, there are Karl and Olivier, the founders of the Studio KO, who straightaway trusted us. This is even more pleasant given the fact we love their works.
TSF
Do you have a favourite period in design?
Guillaume & Florent
The one we are really interested in is the Art Deco in every sense because they used a lot of materials we work on now, such as alabaster, plaster and bronze. However, in terms of style, we get inspiration from a lot of different things, from Diego Giacometti and Philippe Anthonioz to Rick Owens!
TSF
Is there a light, an emblematic object, you would dream of having someday?
Guillaume
It would be a bronze light by Philippe Anthonioz: I particularly love the way he transposes his work of sculptor in functional objects. I recently saw pieces by the studio Mumbai at the Biennale of Courtrai: a collection of seats with Indian traditional know-hows. Very inspiring.
TSF
Which materials do you like working on, modifying and carving?
Guillaume & Florent
Our workshop is a place for experiencing and developing the products. We work a lot on plaster, soil, wax and some synthetic materials. But we ask specialised workshops to product the pieces; we are glad we have been working with them for several years. The materials we use are often natural and/or mineral: the lava stone, alabaster, obsidian, plaster, glass paste and bronze. We recently made a collection of Kitayama cedar furniture, a cedar essence which grew only in the forests in the North of Japan. We discovered this material during a trip in Japan and we have been immediately charmed by the naturally dented surface of this wood. We could think it was sculpted but its texture is naturally like this. It’s a wonder of nature.
TSF
Who are your creations for?
Guillaume & Florent
I think it’s for every person who loves materials. It can be both a man and a woman, for an apartment in Paris but also for a house in Miami. Most of our customers are architects and interior designers with whom we have been loving working.
TSF
How would you define your style in your home in terms of furniture?
Florent
Certainly eclectic. I both love iconic design pieces by Noguchi and Castiglioni and perfectly anonymous objects. The next step is to add our own pieces, the cobbler’s wife goes unshod!
TSF
What are your next challenges?
Guillaume & Florent
We organised an exhibition with a wide selection of objects from March,22nd to April, 1st in the gallery Joyce in the garden of Palais Royal. It will be the perfect opportunity to show new things, with lights and furniture. We were also invited to take part in the exhibition AD Collections, organised by the magazine AD in the Museum of Modern Art in Paris at approximately the same dates. We are also working on objects for an exhibition with the gallery Carwan, which have been representing us in Lebanon since the end of last year. It’s a wonderful project since several art and design galleries are going to use the villa La Vigie in Monaco, a building built at the beginning of the XXth century by an English Lord, and which overlooks the bay of Cap Martin. A lot of things to come, it’s very exciting!
The origin of our work is above all the materials we want to highlight through simple forms.
