Interior designers Natacha Froger and Aurèle Duhart join forces to reinterpret the famous geta shoes in a collection of sculptural furniture that combines tradition and modernity.
Natacha Froger is bursting with inventiveness and projects. Founded some twenty years ago, Atome Associés has become a creative agency specializing in hotels and the design of bespoke spaces and furniture. She is also passionate about Japanese culture. For this new collection, available since September 19, she travelled to Sakae, Japan. This lively district of downtown Nagoya is the birthplace of geta, the traditional wooden shoes that represent the meticulous, ancestral craftsmanship of Japan. Here, the designer reinterprets their design in pieces of furniture. To achieve this, she has teamed up with gallery owner Jean-Marc Hervier, whom she has known for twenty years, and designer Aurèle Duhart, with whom she has already completed several interior projects.
RESPECTING CULTURAL HERITAGE
The Geta collection pays homage to " the delicate silhouette of geisha steps " in a range of tables, consoles and stools in walnut wood combined with lacquer tops in different colors. The six luxurious, sober and refined models that make up the collection reflect the multiple shapes of the iconic shoes, as seen from the bases. " The pieces designed are both functional and artistic, offering an emotional connection and embodied design. Their approach values traditional craftsmanship, celebrating history and permanence," the designers reaffirm. In this conception, the duo called on craftsmen from northern Portugal, notably master cabinetmaker Manoel Cândido Pereira dos Santos, founder of the Yako company, dedicated to workspaces, and specialized in the design and manufacture of furniture.
COMBINING ART AND DESIGN
As usual, to accompany the launch of her collections, Natacha Froger organizes inaugural exhibitions that intermingle and sublimate art and design. Here, she turns to long-time friend and collaborator Bénédicte Gerin for a series of paintings. In her work, this French artist, born in New York and based between Paris and Pollença, Spain, draws inspiration from the Mediterranean nature of Mallorca, exploring color, perspective, gesture, movement and depth. These large-format paintings adorn the space of the Jean-Marc Hervier house, and bring to life, with intensity and elegance, the sublimated design of the Geta collection, which honors Japanese cultural heritage in a new way.
