Incollect Magazine - Issue 10

Incollect Magazine 21 some small editions, but even then, because each is handmade, no two pieces are exactly the same. To design a piece he starts out with an idea of what he wants to do and then sketches it out on a scrap of paper. Sometimes he does additional designing in 3D with a computer but frequently he moves directly from sketch to production process with no intermediate models. He understands scale and dimensions intuitively, he says, adding, with a laugh, “but sometimes I’m wrong so we have to make adjustments during construction.” Whether he is making furniture, decorative objects, sculpture or installations, Boulloud sees everything in the design process as interrelated. He builds his designs iteratively, he says, evolving ideas and his thinking based on similar designs that have come before. “Beyond its aesthetic success, a finished work seems accomplished to me in its ability to generate descendants,” he says. He sees himself as building an interrelated body of work. Boulloud graduated from the École Boulle in Paris in metalworking in 1995. Metalwork remains his specialty, especially the use of sheet metal, brass, or stainless steel. “When I first started out, to make a living, I worked in construction and my pieces were made with off-cuts from job sites — usually metal sheets but any material I could get my hands on,” he says. He continues to experiment freely with new materials. “We are working more with wood and concrete and exploring glass, stone, leather, and other different materials,” he says. His approach, he explains, is to reveal, and accentuate their inherent properties. “I am always harnessing the potential of each material to bring out its uniqueness. Each assembled piece carries within it a narrative that unfolds through its forms, various materials, and movements.” Not surprisingly Boulloud has become a kind of ‘go-to’ designer for commissions for major interior designers around the world. David Kleinberg founder of the AD100 New York-based interior design firm DKDA has commissioned custom pieces for several projects. Tino Zervudachi, who counts Mick Jagger among his clients, recently commissioned a cabinet bar piece through Twenty First Gallery. Designer Tony Ingrao, known for his discerning eye for collectible design, is a faithful client of Galerie Glustin and Twenty First Gallery and has placed Boulloud pieces in a number of projects. “We have also been working with Peter Marino’s teams on pieces, mainly for new Chanel and Tiffany stores,” Boulloud says. “The work of Erwan Boulloud is not only imaginative and strong but his pieces are made with deep knowledge of the materials he works with and with highly accurate and elegant engineering as well,” says Zervudachi. “The work is both poetic and beautifully mechanical and has great depth. He turns rough metal sheets into giant jewel-like furniture, which in my view will stand the test of time. He is like the great cabinet makers of the eighteenth century exploring modernity and stretching it whilst producing items of exquisite quality.” Prominent Europe an col lec tors have bought and commissioned his pieces. Jean-Claude Maillard has several works, as do Denis and Edwige Herbette. Another faithful client is Bénédicte Haubold, who not only owns numerous pieces but commissioned Boulloud to create custom cabinets for her bathroom in her home that feature gilded moldings of cracked earth and her children’s footprints. Boulloud also has supporters and admirers among his fellow makers, an unusual feat in a competitive field. “I have been following Erwan Boulloud’s work for years and have always been captivated by its exquisite sculptural, technical, and artistic qualities,” says London-based sculptural furniture designer Tim Schreiber. “His evolution as an artist and ability to merge art and technique into striking forms continues to inspire me.”