Pierre Yovanovitch Mobilier’s Fall Lineup Is Here—And It Doesn’t Disappoint
The first product that Pierre Yovanovitch ever conceived was in 1999, two years before the Paris- and New York–based designer launched his eponymous firm. For a friend, Yovanovitch fashioned a set of playful, animal-shaped side tables out of concrete. “The experience definitely carried into my interiors in that I was really striving to create something imaginative that was also extremely practical,” he tells AD PRO.
Over the 20 years that Yovanovitch has led his practice, he has dreamed up countless custom products for his residential projects, and in 2017 and 2019, presented his own furniture and lighting ranges, Oops and Love respectively, in standalone exhibitions at R & Company in New York. Inspired and wanting to transcend “the confines of a limited-edition gallery model,” he unveiled his own furniture and lighting brand, Pierre Yovanovitch Mobilier, this past spring.
Buy now for unlimited access and all of the benefits that only members get to experience.
The inaugural 45-piece collection, which debuted with a special installation at the Académie d’Architecture at Place des Vosges in Paris, reiterated the designer’s innate material comprehension, creating playfully chic forms in patinated bronze, handblown frosted glass, and raw chamotte clay. With its successor, the recently debuted fall collection, materials continue to be an unforgettable protagonist.
Take the Rochefort dining table. Loosely shaped like a diamond, it’s crafted from oxidized, hand-planed solid oak—the same material that forms the base of the low-slung, granite-top Elmer coffee table. The Oopsy chair, a beautifully tactile contrast of curved oak frame paired with a nubby upholstery, gets reimagined in new shades of Teatime pink and Pixel green upholstery. A counter-height iteration of the Alice stool joins the mix, all while maintaining the original’s dreamy blue-glazed ceramic insert. As for lighting, the new collection welcomes a pair of pebble-like sconces with existing collaborator and French ceramicist Armelle Benoit.
Yovanovitch notes that, although there aren’t particular inspirations behind these objects, at the core of his process is a love for nature and a childhood savored on the French Riviera. “The duality of life there—the fortitude of the dense woods, the fleeting levity of the sunsets, the bright colors of the lavender season, and the deep hues of the ocean—are all things that I draw from when creating my pieces,” he elaborates.
Embarking on the new path has been not only an opportunity to share his designs with customers around the globe, but also “to master our own sales environment and show furniture in our own specific way,” he says, adding that a New York showroom, following the inaugural location in Paris, is soon to open. “As the designer—and with an intimate understanding of the level of savoir-faire that goes into these works—it was important that our sales are rooted in a deep understanding of the design ethos.”
It’s an ethos that, similar to the designer’s memories of the French Riviera, is strongly rooted in craftsmanship—“tactility and variety of this region of Provence,” as he puts it. (Yovanovitch has collaborated with a number of French and Swiss artisans for the collections.) “The works are at once strong and soft, understated yet bold,” Yovanovitch says. “There’s a depth to them, while they’re also all approachable.” Imaginative and practical, much like his early-career furniture foray.