Hervé Van der Straeten’s ’Dissonances’ exhibition opens at Galerie Van Der Straeten, Paris

Hervé Van der Straeten’s beautifully realised design objects - instantly identifiable by their decorative arts bent - puts him on our go-to list for contemporary design-art. The Paris-based designer, who won a 2012 Wallpaper* Design Award for his cubist ‘Twist’ candlesticks, is now presenting his ninth showcase of furniture and objects at his gallery in the Marais.

A play on the musical term, ‘Dissonances’ is a series of pieces comprising a clash of oblique and diagonal angles, materials and forms.

To this end, a console with a bronze base of overlapping components displays a witty volumetric tension. Contrasting materials are placed with one another - resulting in the mingling of textured bronze patina and anodised aluminium, or schist and garnet. And by disharmoniously placing natural materials with electric and metallic tones, the result is a striking cacophony of colour combinations - cue the startling tortoiseshell rock tabletop held up by a bright red glossy stainless steel configuration. 

Van der Straeten, who designs his collections in his own bronze and cabinet-making workshops, developed ’Dissonance’ to show an interplay of tension and attraction. In this miscellany of furniture, objects, lighting and mirrors, Van der Straeten has somehow given each piece its own logic, resulting in a polyphonic spree of unique works.