Incollect Magazine - Issue 10

Incollect Magazine 17 the daring ingenuity of bybenjamin genocchio erwan boulloud “I have a passion for mysterious organisms and minerals, like stones, fossils, corals, meteorites, even insects,” says Erwan Boulloud, leaning in, as if to take me into his confidence. The playful, eccentric French artist, designer, and artisan “breathes life” into sculptural furniture as he likes to say, shaping forms that stimulate the senses and invite reflection, even wonder. His designs might reference the living world and natural cycles of change, but they engage equally with technology, literature, art, and philosophy — he is currently reading a book by the French author and anthropologist Philippe Descola. His artisanal forms are expressive, experimental, and steeped in thought and research combined with an intuitive, mystical approach to decoration. Boulloud’s designs are ingenious, pieces are characterized by exquisite craftsmanship and, characteristically, creative daring — when he isn’t making furniture he is scaling rock faces as a free climber in and around Paris. His creations are made in his studio outside of Paris where he employs 11 people to assist him in the construction of 80 to 100 pieces a year. Most of them are sold through two galleries that represent his work, Galerie Glustin in Paris and Twenty First in New York, where 14 of his recent works will be on display from January 30th to March 31st, 2025. It is his first solo gallery exhibition in the United States since 2019. Each piece Boulloud makes tells a story. The Rosanna coffee table, a cloud form structure made of brass and falcon eye stones, through its forms, materials, and sense of movement tells the story of Kleodora, who nursed Hermes and taught him how to foresee the future by dropping pebbles into water — observing the circular ripples formed by the pebbles, as they enter the water, Kleodora could predict what the future would hold. “Erwan Boulloud’s decorative patterns always have a purpose. They aren’t random,” says Renaud Vuaillat, owner of Erwan Boulloud with his dalmation Moumoune.