Pouenat’s eloquent craft has existed since 1880. Starting out as an artisanal iron workshop established in central France, the firm has since been updating their style with new metals that have joined the scene over the years. Made in steel, brass, aluminium, copper and bronze, its alloy collections range from furniture to their more intriguingly abstract lighting.
For their latest Maison et Objet showing, the Moulins-based brand launched a new graphic range by Parisian architect Isabelle Stanislas. An array of linear shapes and serrated edges, the collection titled ‘Landscapes’ creates artful sculptures out of Pouenat’s malleable forms.
Described by Stanislas as a ‘network of lines and forms that build the unlimited space of an imaginary world,’ the pieces expel an organically sculptural side to contemporary furniture. Experimental forms take shape in the ‘Let It Happens’ bench that fuses carefully carved leather, bronze and brass. Intricate details are key in this warm piece; the stitching on the burnt orange (and also vegetarian) leather seamlessly meets the brushed bronze.
It is the perforated alloy pieces that are the main event though. A braille style pattern is created through its punctures in the ‘Part of Partition’ pedestal table and coffee table. Part industrial, part sleek, a perfect synergy is created from contrasting gunmetal steel that frames the punctured sheets.
Viewed by Stanislas as indoor-outdoor architectural works, the conceptual range makes the case for metal as a fine material.
