Pierre Yovanovitch unveils a furniture collection rooted in his fashion-design past

Before Pierre Yovanovitch was a world-renowned interior designer, furniture maker or set designer, he worked for another famous Pierre – Pierre Cardin. The legendary fashion designer, a pioneer of French ready-to-wear, offered Yovanovitch an apprenticeship. What followed was a 16-year-long career with the house, first as a licensing manager and then a menswear designer.

Cardin’s attention to structure, shape and materials instilled in Yovanovitch an architectural approach to clothing, an approach he carried over to his interiors business. This week at his New York gallery, Yovanovitch has unveiled Été 25, a 15-piece collection of new furniture and lighting inspired by sunnier days ahead and – yes – fashion.

‘With Été 25, I wanted to capture the ease and optimism of summer – its lightness, its warmth, its sense of effortless joy,’ Yovanovitch tells Wallpaper*. ‘In many ways, it brings me back to my years in fashion, where silhouettes, materials and movement were embracing playful shapes balanced with precise craftsmanship.’

The elegant new Casper chandelier, for example, evokes a lightweight piece of fabric draped on a rack, even though it’s made of glass and brass. The backrest of the new Papillon chair takes the shape of a butterfly’s wings, while the flower-like Survetta and Nima lights could have been plucked from a garden.

In typical Yovanovitch fashion, there are references to his childhood on the Mediterranean coast in Nice, France, as with the round Alexis sofa, backed in a warm woven raffia fabric; while the oak Eze chair and barstool, with their straw seats, were named after a historic commune along the French Riviera. Even if you’ve never visited this enchanting part of the world, one thing’s for sure: these furnishings are certainly a vacation for the eyes.

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