REFLections by Patrick Naggar
In November, RALPH PUCCI New York debuted REFLECTIONS, 13 new works by French designer Patrick Naggar, who joined the gallery in 1995.
Each of these new designs captures a blend of innovation and technology, a fusion of art with science, with the classical references for which Patrick is known. "In general I want to stay away from moment, style, fashion,” Patrick explains. "I think that’s what makes something last longer. The hybrid is not necessarily in the shape but in the union of poetry, art, modernity, classicism, science”.
We asked him about the new collection, and the inspiration behind it, and how it comes to look “just so” on the gallery floor. Patrick says, “It’s a bit like a puzzle, maybe I had an idea of how it would all look when it comes together in the gallery space, it always changes a bit, with the light, the walls, the volume."
Photography by Antoine Bootz
"The first piece that came to my mind for this show is the Apollo. It doesn’t just sit against a wall, it’s an object you can turn around.” The signed edition of 12 is made of molded carbon fiber, finished with a special metallic finish which imparts the iridescent finish, giving it the look of melting metal penetrating the atmosphere, like the spaceship that lends its name to the piece”
Above, Patrick creates a mural for The Wall inspired by space. Patrick selected a black hole as the subject of the mural to create a visual of the Apollo hurtling through the universe. Patrick says, “I always think of something Proust wrote, about connecting by metaphor two objects distant in space and time, reunited with a beautiful style”
Carbon fibers again appear with the chaise, an edition of 24, which clearly reveals its classical origins in its sled base, made of bronze (left)
Also on the Butterfly cabinet (right), an iridescent resin-cast overlays the carbon fiber, while the cabinet is made of lacquer. The pattern on the doors depicts an electrical circuit, Patrick says, “and I loved telescoping those two realities, the ephemeral and that machine, with the hinges in the center, just like the body of the butterfly.”
The String console is crafted of three different metals (bronze, pewter and brass), which create the surface design with a laborious process of hand-sanding down to reveal under layers. “The pattern to me evokes the way Damascus blades are made, with metal folded over other metals, heated and folded to create the pattern,” explains Patrick. "It would have been much easier to make the console in lacquer!” Its technique also pays homage to Japanese Negoro lacquer, where the top surface layer of a black lacquer wears away with time to reveal red underneath. No two String consoles will be the same because of the different hands that make them.
