15th November 2024

A look back at the International Heritage Show, which took place from 24 to 27 October 2024 at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris.

I was lucky enough once again to share a booth with Henry-Bertrand Collet, a cabinetmaker friend of mine, with whom we displayed a stunning Tric-Trac table by Nicolas Grevenich (1735-1820).

On this occasion, the public had the pleasure of discovering the astonishing mechanism of this table on an ExploVision touch terminal, where the piece of furniture could be completely dismantled!

Wow effect guaranteed!

17th April 2024

This old adage is perfectly suited to the season and is also ideal for illustrating what I'm going to talk about today.

Do you know Louis Auzoux?

Well, no, he's not an 18th-century cabinetmaker, or even a carpenter, but he is a 19th-century French anatomist... And that's just the beginning!

In the 1820s, he perfected a technique for making anatomical models from papier-mache that could be handled and taken apart (the ancestor of ExploVision).

In 1828, he set up his manufacturing workshops in Saint-Aubin-d'Écrosville, in the Eure region of France.

Although the models were not readily accepted by anatomy teachers at first, they went on to become teaching tools that were soon used in conjunction with dissection to enable future doctors to learn the science in its entirety.

Louis Auzoux subsequently expanded his catalogue, going beyond human anatomy to include botanical and animal models.

Let's get back to our April thread... I'm presenting a Larynx today!

I invite you to come and discover it and take it apart yourself...

This project, which is a bit different from what I usually do, was initiated by Marion GOURIVEAU as a follow-up to her PhD and with the aim of bringing this fabulous work to the widest possible audience.

Here, 3D once again takes on its full meaning, because in addition to its playful side, this reconstruction has an undeniable scientific interest that allows a study/comparison without worrying about damaging the object.

This time, there are no tenons, grooves, dovetails or even marquetry, just a papier-mâché larynx... I'll let you handle it for yourself:

Click here to view the larynx in 3D!

Thank you to Marion GOURIVEAU for helping without trembling (and it wasn't that easy) and thank you also to Caroline Marchal and Jim Poncelet's graphic arts restoration workshop CMJP (Paris) for providing us with this precious model of the Larynx, on their premises, for a day.

10th Febuary 2025

Following the exhibition on André-Charles Boulle at the Château de Chantilly which ran until 6 October, the Wallace Collection (in London) is organising a smaller retrospective on the cabinetmaker, this time focusing on one of his less well-known specialities: clocks.

Indeed, the Wallace Collection holds 5 magnificent clocks that you can discover in the Housekeeper's Room on the ground floor.

📆 Save the date :

Keeping Time: Clocks by Boulle

November 27 to March 2, 2025

It's time to book a weekend in London... And what's more, it's not supposed to rain...

08th June 2024

We thought about it, we imagined it, we dreamt about it, some of us no longer believed in it, well you can rest assured, the great exhibition dedicated to the cabinetmaker André Charles Boulle has finally arrived at the Château de Chantilly and you can discover it now...

📆 It runs from 8 June to 6 October 2024 in the Grands Appartements des Princes de Condé at the Château de Chantilly.

What can I say? Around fifty carefully selected pieces bringing together a corpus of drawings, engravings, bronzes and, of course, furniture from the world's greatest collections are brought together in the sumptuous and enchanting setting of the Château de Chantilly.

You will sail from foliage to interlacing, from tortoise shell to gilded bronze, from satyr to philosopher, but always around the same thread: the genius and inventiveness of one man, A.C. Boulle.

04th April 2024

Sometimes I can miss certain details when I'm measuring a piece of furniture. That's why I take a lot of photos (no matter how insignificant) where this "forgotten detail" might appear.

I use these shots to "check" my modelling, sometimes to complete it, but also occasionally to "scratch my head" for a while.

That's what happened with a photo I took a bit "at random" in 2023 during the measurement of Marie-Antoinette's second travel "nécessaire" kept at the Musée International de la Parfumerie in Grasse. A small detail caught my attention and I scratched my head for a while!

As some of you already know, this mahogany case is made up of around fifty different objects (silverware, porcelain, cases, bottles, etc.) and several compartments and drawers.