Familiar Poems: Timeless forms of the inner world (France)
THE ZOO
Alexandre Labruyère is one of the 13 designers selected for ZOO’s inaugural temporary exhibition.
ZOO _Hub spaces are concept stores and galleries, serving as a global showcase capable of narrating untold stories. Periodically, the ZOO team will curate exhibitions and collectives that traverse the broad discourse surrounding contemporary design.
Roseaux Collection
Sycamore, beech, natural oil finish
“As you meander through the marshes, allow yourself to be carried by the movement of the reeds and their luminous softness.”
Like a curtain of reeds, the cadence created by the beech stems allows light to permeate, softening the surface in a rhythmic manner.
This collection explores the visual sensations created by reeds as light filters through them. The juxtaposition of full and empty and high and low is designed to remind us of a reed bed. The color of the wood creates a contrast between light and dark, in order to better illuminate the pieces of furniture.
Bettoïa Collection
Smoked ash wood
“Flowers invite themselves inside, the stem reveals itself, the meadow takes shape.”
A wooden vase with soft and elegant lines, a soothing object, whose function is to bring nature inside our living spaces. This purpose responds to a growing need to reconnect with nature, represented here by dried flowers.
Bettoia is the name of the designer’s great-grandmother, to whom he wanted to pay tribute with the first object in his collection. Wooden vases are beautiful objects, but how can the grace of glass vases be replicated? By rendering visible the entirety of the natural element, sublimating it from petal to root? This was the thought process that inspired Alexandre when he envisioned Bettoia.
Who is Alexandre Labruyère
Alexandre Labruyère is a designer of contemporary furniture and decorative objects. After several years working in a large industrial sports company, in 2019 he began training at the Ecole Boulle in Paris to become a cabinetmaker. Labruyère’s studies have enabled him to approach many materials with the techniques necessary to give life to his ideas and concepts. Drawing inspiration from his extensive travels and meetings with people, Labruyère’s work revolves around three fundamental axes: tension, lightness and simplicity. The search for a taut but fluid line guides his designs, which are enhanced by contrasting colors. Labruyère’s universe is imbued with a familiar aesthetic: we are not faced with objects that confuse or disturb us. Rather, their function is to consolidate our interior world, calling upon memories of timeless forms.
