Modern Across the Ages | Mobilier National at Villa Albertine
Talk
Réserve Perret ©Thibaut Chapotot
Join us for this exceptional conversation with Hervé Lemoine, President of the Mobilier National, and Wolf Burchard, Associate Curator for Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum, to discover one of the foremost French Cultural institutions: the Mobilier National, in charge of furnishing the official spaces of the French Republic, which has been a key actor in the field of design creation and the promotion of French decorative arts for 400 years.
A direct descendent of French King Louis XIV’s “Garde-meuble de la Couronne,” the Mobilier National is one of the foremost French cultural institutions, in charge of furnishing the official spaces of the French Republic. With a team of more than 340 professionals, including curators, interior designers, and craftspeople, the Mobilier National ensures the conservation and restoration of its unique collections, which numbers nearly 150,000 pieces.
The institution also administers textile production through historic workshops such as the Gobelins, Beauvais, and Savonnerie manufactories (among others), creating tapestries, rugs, and lace in collaboration with some of the greatest artists over the past four centuries: Picasso, Matisse, Le Corbusier, Hans Hartung, and, more recently, Pierre Alechinsky, Kiki Smith, and Sheila Hicks. The Mobilier National also runs a Research and Creation Workshop (Atelier de Recherche et de Création) which produces outstanding pieces of furniture for the French State with internationally renowned designers such as Pierre Paulin, Andrée Putman, and Philippe Stark, as well as young designers including Matali Crasset, Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance, and Philippe Nigro.
The preservation and transmission of this highly specialized know-how has made the Mobilier National a key actor in the field of contemporary creation and the promotion of French decorative arts.
Hosted by Villa Albertine, this exceptional talk with Hervé Lemoine, president of the Mobilier National, is an opportunity to better understand the landscape of support for contemporary design, and to explore this 400-year-old “temple of design”: its history, its singularity as an institution, and its collection, which is a testament to the richness and the variety of French luxury styles.
In partnership with
Mobilier national
Mobilier National’s mission is to ensure the conservation and restoration of its collections resulting of purchases and orders. Back in the time they used to be designed for royal and imperial residences, and today for the official palaces of the French Republic. These collections are made up of more than 130,000 furniture and textile objects.
The Mobilier national has seven restoration workshops – tapestry, carpets, upholstery and decorative tapestry, seat carpentry, cabinetmaking and bronzeware.
The national factories of Gobelins, Beauvais and La Savonnerie, as well as the lace workshops of Alençon and Le Puy-en-Velay are attached to the administration of the Mobilier national.
The institution has also a research and creation workshop – the ARC – to promote creation and contemporary design in official buildings. 600 prototypes from a hundred designers have been produced in over 50 years.
The services of the Mobilier national and the national manufactures embody the prestige of French tradition, the excellence of exceptional know-how and the vitality of artistic creation and contemporary design.
