Mattia Bonetti table

Swiss-born, Paris-based designer Mattia Bonetti once described himself as a ‘troublemaker turned traditionalist’. Working with his then partner Elisabeth Garouste, the pair carved out quite a name for themselves in the art/design market during the late 1970s to late 1990s with dazzling creations in a style sometimes condemned as ‘barbaric’.

Despite reaching the masses with a range of cosmetics for Nina Ricci and designing the brand image of Christian Lacroix, it was their small-run extravagances for Paris galleries that always caught our eye.

Today, working alone, Bonetti is as much a dreamer-craftsmen as ever, and his new collection for Galerie Italienne is a true testimony to his panache to create original, striking work. Who else, after all, would so confidently mix Perspex with walnut and still come up smelling of roses?

3 August 2007 | Interiors