Architecture and interior layout

Ce chai se devait d’être contemporain. L’implantation des « lames » lumineuses apportent un côté végétal et une élévation visuelle des murs. Vu la grandeur du lieu, je les souhaitais conséquentes, épaisses. Gilles Chabrier, sculpteur sur verre a réussi à suivre le concept qui permet de laisser un vide important au centre afin d’alléger au maximum chaque lame pourtant déjà bien lourde. Le relief sablé de façade permet une diffusion de la lumière de façon homogène.
Les murs ont prolongé l’effet des lames lumineuses avec des découpages de peinture dont les teintes sont en relation avec les plafonds et sols.

Château Clarke

Issu du terroir de Moulis, le vin Malmaison se devait d’avoir son propre chai au sein du Château Clarke. Plus léger, voir féminin, il m’a été demandé de respecter les teintes rouges de Clarke, roses de Malmaison et le noir des bouteilles. Alors que tout était en béton, voici comment est né ce concept où l’on retrouve :
• Les patines dégradées sur les murs et les enduits texturés sur les poteaux faits par mes soins.
• Les verres sculptés sur les poteaux et les verres noirs de l’escalier réalisés par Gilles Chabrier sculpteur sur verre
• Les cerclages au plafond ainsi que l’escalier par Full Métal Jaquet, serrurier
Inventé et réalisé en 6 mois seulement, ce chai apporte un concept décoratif jamais vu dans le Bordelais.

Château Clarke

Devant présenter pas moins de 16 vins des propriétaires, j’ai souhaité mélanger le visuel de chaque bouteille à hauteur des yeux avec un stockage dessous pour conserver l’esprit cave. Chaque bouteille apparemment en lévitation est éclairée sur les côtés. La réalisation a été faite par Mr Didier Demé, sculpteur. Une patine dégradée noircie a été faite au préalable sur les murs.

Château Clarke

Pour ne pas entraver la vue en arrivant dans cette salle de dégustation, j’ai souhaité une table sans pied dont on ne verrait que la tranche en arrivant. Tenue seulement grâce à des poteaux espacés de plus de 6 mètres, l’entreprise Séquoia a fait preuve d’une grande technique puisque cette table à été construire en nid d’abeille comme les « ailes d’avion ». Une marqueterie en trois tons a recouvert ce nid d’abeille et ne laisse nullement entrevoir la difficulté de ce projet, bien au contraire puisqu’en rentrant dans la pièce on est aspiré par le paysage et que l’on découvre la table après. Pari gagné….

Château Clarke

D’après mes dessins, Gilles Chabrier sculpteur sur verre, a sablé l’ensemble de cette cloison de verre qui donne dans une salle de dégustation.

Château Clarke

Située dans un salon VIP, cette vitrine contient les anciennes boîtes et les anciens parfums CARON depuis 1904. L’idée était de les présenter avec au centre les motifs et les dessins qui ont été créés depuis l’origine. Tous ces dessins sont issus des boîtes ou des flacons, ils ont été prolongés tout en conservant une grande partie conforme à leur origine.
Ils ont été mis en valeur avec une imitation de cuir prune gaufré et une patine dégradée rose poudrée.

23 rue François 1er, Paris

Here is a ceiling that completes the pure and vegetal spirit of the VIP lounge. The surface allowed to receive a strong and present decorative idea, without crushing or weighing down the room. The idea was to bend "ceiling squares" and give them a "leaf" spirit in relation to the "branchy" bottle display. This very technical realization in heated corian required a structure of two ceilings one on top of the other. Appearing simple but complicated to implement, this work was carried out by the Eusebio Ets in Spain.

MACÁN Bodega, Samaniego in Spain

The accesses are made of concrete blocks through which the offices are accessed. The concrete recalls the entire cellar, the wood for the barrel cellar and the glass for the light. I wanted these blocks to allow all the windows in the offices to be tilted, but the architect certainly wanted to change his plans too much and refused! Too bad because all the lower walls are rounded to connect with the floors. They would have been the "introduction" of the general inclination. Each desk has a light tone patina but has a dried oak barrel style wall, which explains the gaps between each board to simulate the drying and retraction of the wood. The handles are unique and reflect the overlap of the riveted zinc straps of the barrels. The project was carried out by the Eusebio Ets in Spain.

MACÁN Bodega, Samaniego in Spain

This elevator, which is very present in the grandiose volume of the cellar, could provide a very important decorative element. In contrast to the anthracite black of El Coffré, white was the obvious choice. With a simplified graphic design, I was inspired by the stacks of shoots and cut branches for this hyper structure. The lighting, preferably "fushia", recalls the Piet Mondrian display of the entrance. The lighting was designed by the Eusebio Ets in Spain.

MACÁN Bodega, Samaniego in Spain

With a vegetal and natural "branchy" spirit, this display holds the bottles in place thanks to the shrinkage of the curved oak planks. The idea was to propose a contemporary structure, refined, light in appearance and above all in relation to nature since part of the display extends in front of the bay window and allows you to see the landscape behind it. The aim was not to saturate this VIP lounge with bottles, but just to remind visitors that they are in the world of wine. This highly technical realization of oak, simple in appearance but complicated to implement, was carried out by the Eusebio Ets in Spain.

MACÁN Bodega, Samaniego in Spain

For this room with its molded woodwork, I was asked to think of a large storage unit. The narrowness of this room did not allow, once a double bed was installed, easy opening of doors and even less easy access to the upper parts of the cupboard without a step ladder...... The idea was to use the principle of the library ladder while tilting the whole piece of furniture to avoid a too large footprint of the ladder. I proposed an identical inclination of the cabinet to the one of the ladder to save as much space as possible. In this concept, swing doors are impossible to manage. The idea was to leave a box without a door so that the neighbouring doors could slide in front. The Tetris furniture was born! The decorative surfaces are complex, especially the large silvery grasses on highlights of photoluminescent relief plasters. According to my drawings, the mirrors of Gilles Chabrier (glass sculptor) received a back sanding and then a general silvering. The plum and orange patinas were essential to enhance and energize this seemingly simple but complex chamber in composition.

Switzerland

In association with Gilles Chabrier, here is the simultaneous inking of several layers of tissue paper to decorate the top of a VIP lounge bar. The bristles are enclosed by UV bonding between each glass. It should be noted that I am at the origin of the choice of materials and the whole decorative concept of the living room: the central island (bar), the wall patinas, the tables, the niches, the lounge area including the fabrics, the black glasses behind the screen, etc....

Bank, Tel Aviv

This is the creation of a display inspired by Piet Mondrian. The structure is based on the architecture of his paintings and the primary colours have been replaced by wood, metal and glass (white). The rest of the cubes are bottomless or black to keep the Mondrian spirit. The lighting is mainly white led but only the cubes with white glass background have fuchsia leds. The presentation of the bottles is essentially composed of the great vintages of the associated families. The project was carried out by the Eusebio Ets in Spain.

MACÁN Bodega, Samaniego in Spain

This is the executive office of the Césaré Foundation in Tel Aviv. I proposed a decorative set based on a mixture of the French decorator "Rateau" from the 1930s and the weaver "Gunta Stölzl", a student and teacher at the Bauhaus school in Germany in the same years. In the metal facings, there will be inlays of some of the drawings of Gunta Stölzl's famous carpet, as well as a faithful copy made by the "Ets Diurne" in Paris of the same carpet created in 1925 in Germany. The wenge layout is based on the rigour and symmetry so respected by the "Rateau" decorator. For the fronts of the silver leaf pedestals, I was inspired by the famous "silver lacquers" widely used in the 1930s. At the time, acids were used to bleach silver sheets. Too dangerous, and especially with today's standards, I only applied a matt bleached glaze to reproduce my drawings in large format.

Tel Aviv in Israel.

For the CAESAREA foundation, the original motif of the BAUHAUS movement is used with a superposition of UV-bonded glass sheets. Was surrounded by silk papers dyed by me. Produced in partnership with Gilles Chabrier Sculptor on glass at La Bastille.

Tel Aviv in Israel

After many local researches, I kept for this project some mosaics that seemed to me to give a diversity and complexity of the most varied patterns possible. They were made by Gluska Father and son according to original moulds. They are the only ones to continue this handwork on Tel Aviv for 3 generations. They followed to the letter the colours I had wished for and four new framing friezes that had to be invented because they could not be found. A sober and contemporary waxed concrete enhances these mosaic carpets.

Tel Aviv in Israel

The total renovation of this BAUHAUS-style building in Tel Aviv pushed me to use designs created within the BAUHAUS school in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. The interesting work of the weaver Gunta Stölzl, student and teacher at this school, inspired me. When I took one of his drawings, I asked Laurent Calvez, a metal engraver, to create a relief model and then to have it reproduced in a foundry. Gilles Chabrier, a glass sculptor, extended the motifs on the transoms above the doors. The precise assembly of the metal inlays was carried out by Ets SEQUOÏA in France.

Tel Aviv in Israel

According to my drawings, custom-made furniture. The worktop is a three-layer glass that is glued and sculpted by sandblasting underneath. The basins were post-formed upside down in ovens, cut, polished, sanded, turned over and then adapted in the work surface. Exceptional realization realized by Gilles CHABRIER, glass sculptor located in La Bastille. The rest of the wenge furniture was made by the Ets Favre in Geneva.

Bank, GENEVA

According to my drawings, custom-made furniture. The worktop is a glass glued in three layers, the last of which was "carved" strip by strip before gluing. Chiselling consists of flaking the edges of the glass by hitting it with a hammer and a tungsten chisel to make a succession of "shells" in the glass. The basins were post-formed upside down in ovens, cut, polished, sanded, turned over and then adapted in the work surface. Exceptional realization realized by Gilles CHABRIER, glass sculptor located in La Bastille. The rest of the wenge furniture was made by the Ets Favre in Geneva.

Bank, GENEVA

According to my drawings, each door indicates the name of the living room engraved deeply. The bright colours white and blue indicate whether or not the lounges are occupied in order to prevent entry as required. These thermo-rocked glass strips were fitted with metal sheets on the back that were "ripped off" to act as a reflector. This service was carried out by Frédéric TROISIEME, stained glass artist. The door frames are made of wengé, which is strongly "gouged" to catch the light (Ets Marotte). The entire assembly was carried out by Ets Favre in Geneva. On the walls, a two-layer sandblasted coating reveals the establishment's logos in the hollow.
Bank, GENEVA

A black glass partition. An idea referring to the castle "irons" used to hot print (pyrography) the tops of wooden crates. Each glass rectangle represents a different wine. We opted for the sandblasting technique from the back of the glass already pre-painted in black. A silver plating was placed in all the recesses to highlight the reliefs seen from the front. Work carried out by Gilles CHABRIER, glass sculptor located in La Bastille.

Bank, GENEVA

According to my drawings, creation of display cases to present a collection of 238 small hummingbirds, some of which date back to 1830. It was necessary to take into account hygrometry, UV, stable temperature and a dust-free environment. I worked with the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris and SEQUOÏA, a scenographic designer specialized in exhibitions. An alternation of dark oak and bleached gouged oak represents stylized tree trunks. The showcase bottoms are made of sand on which bird footpaths appear.

Bank, GENEVA

The design of libraries, woodwork, radiator covers, videoconferencing, etc... was created by me. The display cases hide a triangular desk background and give back a square space. The cleverness of the three laterally sliding windows makes it possible to hide a videoconference screen and the passage to useful storage spaces. This service was carried out according to my sketches by the EMG carpentry workshop located in Coignières in Ile de France. Only the bottoms of the showcases were treated by me in metal sheets laid "torn off" in order to reveal the underlying brushed red patinas.

Bank, Paris 8ème

Given the surface area and low ceiling heights, the creation of lighting that "furnishes" without dazzling and without going down too low was necessary. Only the "tube" principle made it possible to project a strong light downwards without blinding. It is quite easy to "draw" with neon lights, and to create complex shapes with a torch. Virgile Grassard from HOTLIGHT is a neonist and helped me in this project. Black glass gives a discreet mirror reflection, depth and a "hole" effect to the ceiling while splitting the design of the neon lights.

Bank, Switzerland

More futuristic than contemporary in inspiration, this banking management office has the advantage of combining the harshness of metal with the softness of tissue paper. These steel plates that integrate video conferencing and the library were created from my drawings and treated in gun patina. On the walls the crumpled tissue paper was crushed and patinated. Please note that there is no wall angle. They have been replaced by roundings that stop in front of the metal partitions to give more depth.

Bank, Paris 8ème

In workshops located on Mérignac, a rifle barrel patina was applied to all the metal parts of the bottle display, which was then mounted in the tasting room at Château Clarke. Beforehand, an identical patina of the reception hall was applied to the entire height of the walls (see below). In addition, I was part of the team for the design of the raw steel furniture. My involvement is limited to the raising to the beam ceiling, the general lighting from the back and the lighted tables on the low work surface.

Clarke Castle in Listrac