Colette Commissions Lisa Fontanarosa Collection Wire Art

CasaSugar — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 08:00:11 -0700

You may not know your Left Bank from your Right Bank, or have ever stepped foot on French soil, but you've probably heard of Colette, the fashion and design temple of Paris. The preeminent concept boutique hails art-loving hipsters from near and far, and regularly organizes exhibitions with both up-and-coming and established artists - including my beloved interiors photographer Todd Selby. Colette's latest exposition is MeWeCycle, a project curated by Karta Healy featuring a collection of designers’ work, based on their love of the bicycle and creative recycling. Some of the most innovative designers around have created furnishings, lighting, clothing, accessories, and design objects for the shop all from recycled materials.

To hear about the artist behind the bicycle pictured here, read more.

Always on the hunt for international talent, Colette called upon Lisa Fontanarosa to tap her stable of European and American designers to create bespoke pieces for the show. Lisa asked Marie Christophe, known for her exquisite, whimsical, wirework light fixtures and sculptures, to create a life-size bicycle in wire with a transparent crystal seat and a crystal bell. The bicycle, shown above, hangs in the window of Colette. Another wire artist from Fontanarosa's collection, Barbara Gilhooly, made industrial hearts from vintage erector sets exclusively for Colette. Both are magnificent proof that "recycled" and "refined" can be one and the same.

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This Just In: Skate Study House Expo to Open in Paris

CasaSugar — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 07:15:00 -0800

Beginning January 28, Colette, a design concept store in Paris, will house the "Skate Study House" exhibit, a reinterpretation of the most famous pieces of modern design through the vision of a skateboarder, created by Pierre-André Senizergues and Gil Le Bon De Lapointe. Pierre-André Senizergues is the president and CEO of Sole Technology, parent company of skate apparel fixture Etnies, and Gil Le Bon De Lapointe is a skateboarder and designer. The exhibit pays homage to Case Study House, a famous experimentation in residential architecture, which ran between 1945 until 1966, commissioning major architects of the day, including Richard Neutra, Raphael Soriano, Craig Ellwood, Charles and Ray Eames, Pierre Koenig and Eero Saarinen, "to design and build inexpensive and efficient model homes for the United States residential housing boom." The exposition will include a skateboard-shaped Nelson Platform Bench, Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman, Le Corbusier Chaise Lounge, Noguchi Table, and Eames Hang-it-All. To see these skate reinterpretations up close (trust me, you want to), read more

Click the images below to see the modern skate furniture up close and personal.

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