With Portuguese design studio Oitoemponto, de Gournay are proud to be participating in the 2017 AD ‘Intérieurs’ hosted by Architectural Digest France. Situated within Paris’s Hôtel des Monnaie, the title has again invited a selection of designers to decorate rooms of the historic interior: this year on the theme of ‘L’art de la matière’ – a celebration of the intricate knowledge associated with unique materials in the world of Interiors.
Photo by Jérôme Galland
Jacques Bec and Artur Miranda’s Porto based practice has built a reputation since 1993 for projects with a transitional elegance and intricately considered luxury. Already well-established clients of de Gournay’s hand painted wallpapers, they approached the company with unique reference material – relying on the brands technical expertise and creative skill to envisage an entirely custom motif.
Photos by Jérôme Galland
Titled ‘Namban’, the wallpaper evokes the artwork of Imperial Japan. An abstract seascape, representing the country’s early commercial contact with Europeans (notably the seafaring Portuguese), is exquisitely illustrated in a 3-dimensional gold leaf pattern which is then tarnished and burnished to create the impression of light breaking through the clouds onto the waves below. Looking to also capture the feel of the 1920s and 30s the design also references the work of Jean Dunand with its mesmerising interplay of swirling coils and graphic lines. The result is something truly original.
Photo by Jérôme Galland
A flock of soaring Cranes, meanwhile, spans the composition: a specific motif not only seen frequently in the Art Deco era but also representative of the ‘Barbarians of the South’: the term used by the 18th Century Japanese to describe the first outsiders arriving to their ports.
Photo by Jérôme Galland
For an even more striking effect, Oitoemponto chose to install the ‘Namban’ wallpaper onto subtly curved walls. de Gournay will also display the wallcovering in the windows of their Paris showroom upholstered onto a five panelled ‘Metropolis’ folding screen in lacquered ivory and brass designed especially for the occasion from Bec and Miranda’s own collection of furniture and accessories.
Oitoemponto’s contemporary application of de Gournay’s artisanal expertise forms an inspiring contribution towards the prestigious occasion – an annual highlight for Paris’s decorating industry.
