The jeweled exhibition “Innovation: Made in France II” is another victory by Suzanne Demisch and Stephane Danant, the founders of Demisch Danant, the gallery devotes its mission to the discovery, study, promotion, and showcasing of French design of the 60s and 70s. This exhibition focuses on a particularly exciting decade, between 1965 and 1975, when France experienced the Oil Crisis, the Space Age, the introduction of the Concorde, the construction of Centre George Pompidou, and the launching of the TGV. The exhibition features important and collectible pieces of design that represent the rapid technological advancement that came to shape French aesthetic sensibility at that time. French designers sought to reintroduce luxury, to create elegant design with using such new materials as stainless steel, plastic, and aluminum, and to move away from the industrial, spare design of the years following WWII. The exhibition is divided to three sections, that together tell the story of this magical and glamorous time. The first is devoted to industrial designer Roger Tallon, known for his famed cast aluminum M400 staircase (below); the second, explores the use of plastic, synthetic resins, and bent plexiglas which allowed the creation of sculptural forms; and the last section, devoted to sophisticated lighting technologies invented in that period, tube fluorescents, halogen bulbs, and various bulb technologies, all came to assist designers to depart from traditional forms of lighting design. Above: Roger Tallon, Neon Table Lamp, 1972. All images courtesy of Demisch Danant.
Jean-Pierre Laporte Esox Chair, 1972
Roger Tallon, Module 400 Staircase, 1964
Sabine Charoy Lamps
Jean Dudon Doubla Chair, 1971
Roger Tallon | Chair (1966)
Roger Tallon, Lamps
