Ronan Bouroullec collaborated with Manufacture de Sèvres, France's porcelain manufacturing workshop founded in the 18th century, to create a series of aluminium and ceramic lamps on view at Galerie de Sèvres, Paris, until 25 November 2023.
The latest addition to the designer’s output – which is explored in a new Phaidon book, Ronan Bouroullec: Day After Day – the ‘Sèvres Lamps’ are available in three heights, and are defined by a porcelain aureole supported by essential aluminium profiles in three heights, combining a minimal design gesture with the unexpected expression of colour on porcelain.
Ronan Bouroullec and Manufacture de Sèvres
Like exotic mushrooms or enigmatic sea creatures, the trio of lamps features smooth, precisely formed aureoles, hand-thrown in the large Manufacture de Sèvres studio and spray-glazed to achieve the colour effects. The almost ethereal glaze is the result of Bouroullec's research into the company's archives, where he found old examples of experiments in crystallisation.
Due to the uncertainty of the process, each piece is unique, featuring multi-tonal abstract patterns that nod to the exploding effect of fireworks or celestial constellations.
'It all quite delicately explodes in the kiln, and when the pieces are taken out, you’re not quite sure if they might be alive,' says Bouroullec, for whom this project meant being able to manipulate a process that he feared could result in a too precise design gesture. '[Each lamp] could be a sea anemone, a portion of sky, a flash of light in space. I wasn’t at all aiming for this, but there is a very natural quality that appears; natural and uncontrolled.'
'Lampes Sèvres' by Ronan Bouroullec is on view until 25 November 2023
Galerie de Sèvres
4, Place André Malraux
75001 Paris
-
Mickalene Thomas and Tom Wesselmann consider the female nude in Palm Springs'The Female Form: Tom Wesselmann & Mickalene Thomas from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation' places the artists' work in cultural context at Palm Springs Art Museum
-
Prada’s A/W 2026 menswear show was about excavating the past to find the future‘It’s a kind of archaeology,’ said Raf Simons of his and Miuccia Prada’s latest menswear collection, which was presented at Fondazione Prada yesterday in Milan
-
‘The Iconic Nordic House’ explores the art, craft and influence of the region’s best residencesA new book of Nordic homes brings together landmark 20th-century residential architecture with stunning contemporary works; flick through this new tome from Bradbury and Powers
-
Ceramics brand Mutina stages a poetic tribute to everyday objectsDesign meets art as a new Mutina exhibition in Italy reframes the beauty of domestic stillness, juxtaposing ceramics, sculpture, paintings and photography
-
Vaarnii launches the ‘Maasto’ chair by Ronan BouroullecThe new Ronan Bouroullec chair for Vaarnii launches during Stockholm Design Week 2024, marking the Finnish company’s first experiments in pine plywood
-
Ronan Bouroullec book merges art, design and everyday life‘Ronan Bouroullec: Day After Day’, from Phaidon, is a visual inventory of the French designer’s work, artistic output and daily inspiration
-
Ronan Bouroullec’s drawings become Kvadrat textilesDanish textile brand Kvadrat sees the power of Ronan Bouroullec's drawings, launching a new collection inspired by his sketches
-
Cassina Pro unveils new vision for office interiors at OrgatecOrgatec 2022: Cassina takes part to the trade fair for office design and furniture deciphering the future of the workplace
-
The Bouroullecs celebrate decade-long partnership with MutinaA new tile and floor collection, encompassing new works and tweaked classics, perfectly embodies the ten-year relationship between ceramics brand Mutina and French design duo Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec
-
Architectural folly by the Bouroullecs lights up the Rennes riverfrontDesigned for the French city's waterfront, Le Belvédère is the latest example of Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec's extensive experimentation on them theme of urban landscaping, featuring their distinctive aesthetic simplicity in a new experiential form
-
Tony Chambers on reworking ritual and worship for this year’s truly elevating Handmade quest
