Design Miami/ catch up: scenographer Emilie Bonaventure

In the lead up to this year’s fair Emilie Bonaventure is putting the final touches to the Galerie Jacques Lacoste exhibition space in the Design Miami/ tent. We spoke with the scenographer back in June about how important the design of the stands has become over the last decade.

Catch up here:

Design Miami/ Basel was not always the sleek treat for the eyes that it is today – in the early years stands at the fair too often resembled furniture stores, and many dealers seemed determined to cram in as much stock as possible, maximising the use of space but condemning themselves to a visually chaotic jumble. The metamorphosis has been gradual, but the importance of clever scenography to the fair’s most attractive stands is increasingly evident. From Le Corbusier’s Chandigarh ventilation panel discreetly pivoting in the wall of Jousse Entreprise, to the choreographed sightlines and elegant structuring created by venerable jewellery designer Giancarlo Montebello for Nilufar Gallery, to the vivid walls and rope divides at Galerie Jacques Lacoste.

This last is the work of Paris-base decorator and scenographer Emilie Bonaventure who is also the creative force behind distinctly different styling for Galerie BSL and Galerie Thomas Frisch. Bonaventure was first approached by Lacoste ten years ago, shortly after setting up her own studio, and in the intervening period has created some 30 settings for him for fairs around the world. “We’re a team,” says Lacoste. “Emilie’s talent is to make sense of the pieces and to make it harmonious. Before it was a mess – I didn’t do international shows like this ten years ago.”

Lacoste specialises in the work of Jean Royère, and carries a large archive of drawn and printed materials connected to the designer on which Bonaventure often draws on for the scenography. “Most of the settings are based on documentation from the archive,” she explains. “I’m chosing the pieces with them and the colours, but we’re always keeping a link with the past.” Using material from the archive, Bonaventure creates carpets and decorative elements such as the rope partition, advises the gallery on upholstery textiles and tracks down paint that corresponds to the intense pigmentation of that available in the 1950s. The close working relationship with the gallery means that Bonaventure knows the stock well and can anticipate and request pieces for the stall.

As well as displaying the works to best advantage, she also sees her role in part as providing a habitat for Lacoste, who, like all the gallerists at Design Miami/ Basel 2014, will be all but sleeping in his booth over the week of the fair. “It’s important for me to make him feel that he is in his own space; to be able to give what he as an expert needs to feel ok.”

After studying art history, and specialising in nineteenth-century French painting and mid-twentieth century applied arts, Bonaventure worked first for an antique dealer then an interior designer before starting her own studio be_attitude. “Design is becoming more and more important to international fairs like this,” she explains. “Without proper scenography some booths could look like a garage sale. Part of my role with gallerists is always to stop them putting in too much furniture – dealers in general want to show a lot, but for me it’s important that the visitors find their own space in the booth; they need to feel welcome.”

The cool colours and stepped display behind Thomas Fritsch’s display of French 1950s ceramic art has none of the heat and drama of the Lacoste stand, training the attention firmly on the serried rows of works. Bonaventure’s relationship with Fritsch dates back 17 years – “I’m a small collector, but I do have a collection of ceramic art and most pieces come from Thomas” – and the duo have recently collaborated on a book on Pol Chambost, who’s work is well represented in the display. Over the six months before the fair, Bonaventure and Fritsch select the works to be displayed, which she then arranges within her scenography. (The display is open to change – “we have great fun,” says Bonaventure. “We’ve changed the settings three times since the start of the fair.”)

2013 was Fritsch’s first year at the fair, so he and Bonaventure decided to create a sense of continuity and to emphasise his ongoing focus on 1950s French ceramic art by creating a two-part exhibition for the first two years. ‘Basel is my only international fair so I want to do it the best I can – I’m taking the long vision; I want to be coming here in 20 years,” explains Fritsch. “We wanted collectors to understand that we had a continuing vision without a break. Next year it will be something completely different, but it will probably be conceived as an exhibition in two or three parts again.”

Where her work with Fritsch is all about creating order and unity within a very tightly focused display, Bonaventure has the opposite concern in her work with Béatrice Saint-Laurent’s BSL, a contemporary gallery featuring works with enormous  – and often competing – personality. This year’s display includes huge, dynamic, wall works and lamps by Taher Chemirik, Nacho Carbonell’s organic and anthropomorphic lighting units, Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance’s digital furnishings and sculptural pieces by Faye Toogood. There is a lot on the stall, most of it bold in concept and execution, yet somehow the display feels calm and harmonious. “It is a challenge,” admits Bonaventure, who has previously worked closely with Chemirik and Duchaufour-Lawrance in creating displays of their works.

One unifying element to the booth is a vintage sofa, upholstered in jade velvet which Bonaventure had purchased for the gallery a few years previously and which she chose to introduce in the booth when she saw Chemirik’s chrysoprase green Mangrove light. The sofa faces a giant wall work by Chemirik, and Carbonell’s sculptural lamps and suggests the possibility of quiet contemplation among all the competing aesthetic stimuli.

As well as negotiating the very distinct aesthetics of the three galleries, Bonaventure always considers the mood of the different fairs – “PAD London is more of a decorative art fair; last time for BSL I recreated a real room – here it’s more museum style. In Miami we wanted to create something connected to the sea and beach, so I made a small cabana.” In retrospect Bonaventure thinks the Miami cabana may have been a step too far. “It does happen…” she admits with a smile.

by Hettie Judah

 This post was first published June 20 2014

The post Design Miami/ catch up: scenographer Emilie Bonaventure appeared first on Design Log.