Magazine T : spring / summer 2023

The essence of beauty

This edition of T magazine is another voyage featuring a dazzling array of people and places who inhabit the worlds that Tectona is passionate about. Madrid, Château de Versailles, Rome, Normandy, Jardins du Lude, Lausanne… we invite you to discover the very essence that infuses our creations in the pursuit of beauty.

First, an interview with Martin Szekely, an icon of the design world and creator of Soleil, our new outdoor collection featuring sculpted pieces made from larch, which has been sourced from European forests. Of course, the furniture has the levels of durability and resistance that Tectona is known for.

Our first destination is the heart of Madrid, in Santo Mauro hotel, where our 1800 collection was adorned in the colours and motifs conceived by interior designer, Lorenzo Castillo. The creative freedom afforded by 1800 is one of the keys to its widespread use in hotels and restaurants, and also among our private clients.

Next on our itinerary is the Château de Versailles, where we carried out a veritable survey of its heritage reserve collection, thereby laying the groundwork for our Normandy workshop to fabricate the Grande ÉcurieVersailles bench, which has been providing a welcome rest to visitors to the Château since 2020.

All our creations, whether heritage or contemporary, have been evaluated at our workshop: every detail is rigorously analysed then thoroughly tested to ensure that every piece of furniture is ideally designed. The workshop is also where traditional manual techniques are passed down and also judiciously supplemented by new technologies. The same spirit pervades our next destination, a workshop in Rome where we discover the secrets behind the fabrication of Roma, our bestselling parasol that has been made in the traditional manner for four generations at the same workshop.

Beautiful gardens move us and poetry could be written about our next stop, the gardens of the Château du Lude, laid out in terraces between the Château and the Loir river. The historical site has been classed a Jardin Remarquable.

At our final destination, Lausanne, we meet Matthieu Gafsou, a photographer whose work is regularly exhibited; the exhibition H+ made a striking impression at the Rencontres d’Arles photography festival of 2018. He also teaches at ECAL (Lausanne University of Art and Design), with which Tectona regularly collaborates.

Thinking ahead, we created a small selection of iconic furniture for soaking up sunshine in style and in comfort, whether in your garden, by a pool or in the terrace of a café.

Martin Szekely

Soleil An haute-couture piece

The latest entrant to the Tectona catalogue is a design legend: Martin Szekely, who joins Pierre Charpin, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Constance Guisset, BIG-GAME, Christophe Delcourt and Inga Sempé. Szekely is the creator behind the legendary Pi collection of the 1980s, the Perrier glass and also bespoke pieces of furniture made from advanced materials for collectors. With Tectona, Szekely returned to his first profession, cabinetmaking, combining traditional craftsmanship with computerised numerical control (CNC) to create Soleil, a collection in larch consisting of a low armchair, an ottoman and a coffee table.

Since you named your project SOLEIL, can you tell us what the sun evokes for you?

Essentially, the sun is the fundamental reason for outdoor furniture. So Soleil was the most logical name to give to this collection.

This project is also a return to your roots in the sense that you acquired early experience in cabinetmaking. Did this background lead you to take a more hands-on approach at the fabrication stage?

Indeed, I started making a living in a cabinetmaking workshop and this first exposure would hold me in good stead in the future when interacting with people who build: we have a common language and practices. My contribution to the fabrication of Soleil was the furniture drawings I drafted with assistance from Jean Yves Grandfils, cabinetmaker and recipient of the Meilleur Ouvrier de France award. The fabrication of Soleil involves craftech, a portmanteau coined to describe a way of working that combines traditional know-how with CNC. It would not have been possible to mass-produce Soleil without CNC, even at very low volumes.

Materials also play an essential role in your work. Tectona works with exotic woods and local woods. How did you choose which wood to use?

With Tectona, we decided from the outset that the project would use a wood derived from a local forest and manufactured by a French enterprise. That’s why we chose locally grown larch, a rot-proof wood that turns grey-silver when it comes into contact with water.

Could you tell us again about the original idea Tire-toi une bûche (“Pull up a log”). How did it inspire you and how did you interpret it?

It’s a Canadian expression referring to those times when you find yourself in the wild and the only thing to sit on is a lump of wood. It’s also about conviviality.

What body position would you like to suggest for this armchair?

The inclined backrest is suitable for what activities?

The armchair can be used in several different ways and suggest several different body positions. It’s usually bodies, in all their diversity, that adapt to the object rather than the inverse. You only need to consider how effortlessly we adapt to sitting on a rock or at the foot of a tree.

What does this collection represent in your trajectory? What achievement does it represent?

I agreed to take on this project shortly after I’d started using my own garden and I’ll be adding Soleil to it soon! On a more serious note, isn’t it incredible to produce designer furniture inside a French enterprise in direct contact with its clientele, without an intermediary?

Soleil Collection More info at www.tectona.fr

Low armchair 66 x 84 x 89 cm

Footrest 54 x 49 x 42 cm

Rectangular coffee table 140 x 74 x 41,5 cm

Santo Mauro

Hotel

A sumptuous setting

This hotel, part of the Luxury Collection of Marriott International, opened in 2021. It was fitted out in a palace built in 1902 for the Duke of Santo Mauro and retains all the grandeur of the original, French-influenced architecture. In the terrace, alongside centennial sweet chestnut trees in the gardens, is the 1800 collection. Its cushions feature lively motifs and come in various shades of blue that help to create the charming evening ambiance under illumination.

Calle de Zurbano, 36 28010 Madrid - Spain

©Santo Mauro

THE 1800 COLLECTION AS YOU WANT IT

The hotel was fitted out by Lorenzo Castillo, an interior designer who featured among the Top 100 creators of the year 2022 by AD magazine and known for his ability to blend the classic with the contemporary. He has also designed fabrics for haute couture. Similarly, he imagined a new shade of blue ―his favourite colour― for the Sunbrella fabric used in the 1800 collection on the hotel’s terrace. The infinite palette of colours and motifs available for the fabrics sublimate the classic design of the 1800 furniture, rendering it a natural fit for contemporary settings and representing outdoor living at its finest.

1800 Collection

More info at www.tectona.fr

1800 Collection

AVAILABLE IN TWO COLORS

Two-seater sofa 154 x 91 cm

Low armchair 81 x 91 cm

Square coffee table 75 x 75 cm

Matt black Blue-grey

Footrest 74 x 74 cm

London Collection

SIMPLE BUT UNDENIABLY SOPHISTICATED

The London bench is the fruit of the labours of highly skilled craftspeople. Visually speaking, the simple structure of the seat emphasises the sophisticated geometric design of the backrest: the interplay of vertical and horizontal lines enclosing three circles, reminiscent of a ship’s portholes, naturally draw in the viewer’s attention to reveal unexpected perspectives. It is inspired by garden benches popular in England since the 19th century.

London Collection

More info at www.tectona.fr

London Bench 150 cm

* POSSIBILITY OF PAINTING ON QUOTATION

London Bench 180 cm

* POSSIBILITY OF PAINTING ON QUOTATION

©Santo Mauro

Grande É curie Versailles

Versailles

OUR HERITAGE: A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION

The 2020 Tectona catalogue heralded the arrival of the Grande Écurie-Versailles bench developed jointly with the Château de Versailles. The starting point of the project was two oak benches listed in the inventory of the Château’s heritage collections. The first had previously appeared in an inventory of furniture at the stables of the Château Royal de Saint-Cloud and was moved to Versailles before 1855 and thereby escaped the bombing and destruction of the Château during the war of 1870. The second was listed among the furniture of Petites Écuries de Versailles, was sent to the Garde-Meuble Royal before 1833 and rejoined the Château de Versailles during the Second Republic (1848-1852).

CLASSIC & CONTEMPORARY

First, the two oak benches were fabricated at the workshop in Normandy. The first model was chosen as our master design primarily for its elegant legs, in the gainé style, narrowing towards the bottom to provide a contemporary touch while evoking the classicism of Maison Jacob-Desmalter, the main supplier to palaces from the mid-18th century. The apparent simplicity belies the painstaking work that was required, particularly the different thicknesses of the wood for the legs. With the aid of a tool developed by the Meilleur Ouvrier de France working at Tectona, profile drawings guided the manufacture of the legs with a very low tolerance, millimetric precision. One difference in the modern version is that the seat section is made from wood rather than velvet. However like the original it employs mortise-and-tenon joints to confer utmost solidity to the bench, which helps it to withstand continuous use by visitors to the Château de Versailles.

A SAVOIR-FAIRE SERVING THE NEEDS OF HERITAGE SITES

Tectona benches are famously sturdy and durable, hence it was natural that they would become “part of the furniture” at prestigious sites open to the public such as the large parks and gardens of Châteaus (Chambord) and museums (Rodin). More recently, in addition to the Château de Versailles, the bench is delighting visitors to Musée Picasso-Paris and the museum at Plateforme 10, the recently inaugurated culturul hub in Lausanne.

Grande Écurie-Versailles bench 183 x 48 x 46 cm

The four outer legs are 362mm high

The four inner legs are 3mm shorter (359mm)

!

Exeter bridge armchair by Christophe Delcourt

The curves perfectly showcase teak wood in this contemporary version of the traditional armchair design. The generous dimensions of the seat and backrest are rendered lighter by the openwork arrangement of the slats.

Armchair

64 x 55 x 79 cm

Siesta deckchair

The new deckchair is the first model by Tectona in ash. Ash, obtained via a short (eco-friendlier) supply chain, is a soft, dense and resistant wood that has a long history of use in cabinetmaking. Thanks to its low weight, Siesta is easy to move around. There are three reclining positions to match different levels of relaxation!

Deckchair 104 x 93 x 66 cm

Roma parasol

The Roma parasol, with its instantly recognisable silhouette, has come to symbolise like no other item the outdoor lifestyle in the sunshine! Its pine mast, handsewn canopy and sturdy steel base are a testament to the mastery of a Roman workshop honed over generations.

Roma parasol

*available in 12 colors and 12 shapes

1800 Lounge

The rigorous design of the 1800 collection was inspired by the neoclassic furniture fashionable during the Directory period and in turn has inspired countless Tectona customers. Today the ensemble is a lounge in powder-coated aluminium consisting of an armchair, two sofas, a coffee table and a gueridon table.

Two-seater sofa

154 x 91 x 86 cm

Low armchair

81 x 91 x 86 cm

Square coffee table

116 x 63 x 48 cm .04

Tennis Umpire’s chair by Pierre Charpin

The tubes of powder-coated aluminium form a silhouette that occupies space in a very discreet, elegant and contemporary manner. The chair can be left outdoors all year round thanks to the use of teak for the seat and the backrest. There are a multitude of ways to enjoy this chair: watch a tennis match below or birds flying overhead, enjoy a privileged view of the landscape, or simply daydream.

Umpire’s chair 87 x 142 x 235 cm

Bamboo armchair

Like Art Nouveau pieces influenced by Japan, Bamboo features a naturalist design inspired by thatches made from knot-studded bamboo poles. The armchair is made from powder-coated aluminium hence is weatherproof and blends naturally into any garden.

Armchair

55,5 x 60 x 93 cm

.05 .06

Southampton folding armchair

When the sun makes an impromptu appearance, you’ll be glad you have your Southampton folding armchair at hand: it’s quick and easy to open and close and the long arms provide extra comfort. Moreover the Batyline fabric used in the seat and backrest is soft to the touch and of course ultraresistant.

Southampton folding armchair 56 x 56 x 85 cm

Copacabana folding

70 x 80 x 74 cm

Camarat sun lounger

Choose how ‘laidback’ you want to get, stretch out your legs and let your mind wander! Camarat is an ode to relaxation! The sun lounger is available in two sizes, and is fitted with two wheels on its rear legs allowing easy movement like a wheelbarrow. The backrest has five reclining positions and, for maximum comfort, a range of mattresses are available: Sunbrella (Ecru, Sand, Red, Navy Blue) or Batyline (Duo Ecru, Eden Taupe).

Sun lounger

200 x 64 x 31 cm

Sun lounger XL

200 x 74 x 31 cm

Mattress

129 x 56 cm

Mattress XL

129 x 67 cm

table

Parasol Roma

SECRETS OF A BESTSELLER

The word "parasole" first appeared in Genoa in the 14th century and denoted a large shade-producing object that protected dignitaries from sunshine. The object was rapidly and widely adopted, especially at Roman markets, where it has been in continuous use since then to protect produce at market stalls from the sunshine and also the rain. Centuries would pass before its popularity peaked again in the 1920s when going to the seaside became fashionable. Use subsequently declined for a while when tanned complexions were the rage, but recovered forcefully from the 1980s, this time not only at beaches but in gardens and outdoor café areas.

IN THE HEART OF THE ROMAN WORKSHOP

In 1986, Tectona launched Roma, a parasol that would go on to become a veritable icon. In all that time, coming up to 40 years, fabrication has been entrusted to the same Roman workshop where traditional and artisan knowhow have been handed down the generations. Every detail of Roma has been pored over and painstakingly developed as if it were a bespoke item. The mast has been chiselled from Douglas pine wood, which is incredibly hard. The wooden struts supporting the canvas are also manually cut and insert perfectly into the mast. The handsewn canvas canopy, in waterproofed ecru cotton or coloured Sunacryl®, is crowned by a ventilation system to keep it stationary in high winds. The cast steel base guarantees the perfect stability of the parasol.

A ROMA PARASOL FOR

EVERYONE!

The ecru cotton canvas is a firm favourite but there are actually twelve colours available in total, a riot of colour much like you’d see at a Roman market. Moreover the canopies are available in twelve dimensions in different shapes: round, rectangular and square.

Beauty pleases the eye, a sweet disposition delights the soul.

PRODUCT CARE

When the sunny season is over, all you need to do is to dedust the parasol then spray with water, never using a detergent; then let it dry completely; finally we recommend that you roll it then store it in a dedicated storage sack to prevent any humidity spots from developing.

ROMA, AD VITAM ÆTERNAM!

If, after several years, the canvas has started to look a little worn, you have the option of having it replaced by an artisan at our Normandy workshop who was specially trained for this in Rome.

Beige

Bordeaux

Black

Green S hapes Colours

Square parasol

Red

Taupe

The

Lude gardens of the Château du

© Pierre Holley

At Tectona, we have always been passionate about gardens: we admire their beauty and also the people responsible and we want their know-how to be passed down generations. And so we were naturally drawn to the gardens of Château du Lude, an architectural gem officially classed as a "Jardin remarquable" in 2004. It is located in the Sarthe département, near the city of Anjou, and T magazine is delighted to give you a guided tour encompassing the past and the present.

THE EDEN ON THE BANKS OF THE LOIR

Day breaks at the Château du Lude, enveloping the earth with a cloak of dense mist. Countess Barbara de Nicolaÿ watches over her estate as the sunshine bathes the terraced gardens in golden light. Although the gardens were outlined as far back as the 17th century, the current lines were laid down by the landscape artist Édouard André (1840-1911). For nearly four decades, Barbara de Nicolaÿ has not only maintained the gardens but sublimated them. “When I arrived at the Château in the 1980s, the gardens were, in a sense, static. At the time, the estate would host a light and sound show that occupied the entire space”. The open-air theatre show was held for nearly 40 years and firmly placed Lude in the public’s mind. When it ceased in 1996, the gardens could once again breathe. Lilacs, daphnes and hellebores quite literally flourished.

THE SECRETS OF THE EARTH

With patience, Barbara de Nicolaÿ learned the arts of horticulture and the science of botany, much of it from Mr Martinet, the former gardener: how to prune rose bushes, how to propagate honeysuckle by taking cuttings, how to sow watercress,… The secrets of Lude, from bygone eras and from the prewar period, would also reveal themselves. The sum of these efforts has culminated in the magnificent gardens we see today. First was the kitchen garden occupying nearly four acres, today cultivated by the permaculture way and surrounding an orange grove. Then in 1997, the Éperon garden next to the east facade of the Château emerged revitalised by landscape artist Augustin d’Ursel. Other attractions for visitors are the box tree labyrinth and the rose gardens providing opportunities for promenades full of surprises and punctuated by splashes of Clementina Carbonieri, Archiduc Joseph and other hybrid tea roses.

A FRAGRANT REFUGE

Further down, in the French-style garden, yew and magnolia topiaries have replaced the geranium beds, while the still water of the ponds pleasingly contrasts with the jovial flow of the Loir and the agricultural plains on the other bank. Nevertheless it is the Source garden, which forms a transitional zone towards the wooded park in the southern part of the estate, that remains Barbara de Nicolaÿ’s favourite place to while away the hours. Here, on the outskirts of the botanical promenade amid trees native to China brought by the collector Jacky Pousse, the blossoming of shrubs releases fragrances to delight visitors, in winter as well as summer.

4 Rue Jehan de Daillon 72800 Le Lude - France www.lelude.com

Presenting Matthieu Gafsou

Adventures in sociological photography!

Since 2015, Tectona has partnered with the prestigious annual photography festival Rencontres d'Arles. In fact, Tectona has always been passionate about this art form, regularly commissioning photographers for its new collections and for portraits of designers. Matthieu Gafsou, who also has a keen interest in architecture and design (notably he teaches at ÉCAL in Lausanne) and has received numerous awards including from the prestigious HSBC Foundation, has honed a photographic language that is as unique as it is complex but remains at all times profoundly humanist this much is evident from his collaborations with Tectona where he can make designers and objects alike reveal their essence!

Portrait of Matthieu Gafsou © Jeremy Gafas

Picture of Matthieu Gafsou - Tectona Cicala armchair

The image is both a drawing and a photograph and neither. It defies classification. We can see children playing with water jets, ghost-like white buildings and an otherworldly orange sky. It exudes joy and at the same time slightly disturbs us. Its origin is a photograph that Matthieu Gafsou took for his latest project entitled Vivants in Xiamen, China, in 2018, and then dipped in a petroleum bath. The result was a photograph that is timeless, not from the past and not from the future. An image that is both fictional and of this world, at least the part of the world we don’t see but that Matthieu strives to reveal using different techniques, some quite unconventional. For Vivants, an epic series on how climate destabilisation is degrading our world, Matthieu spent four years (2018-2022) travelling the world, reading Alain Damasio and Philippe d’Escola, photographing (in black and white) people waging battles in favour of the environment, factories causing pollution, mother nature in her splendour and sublime animals (in colour) as well as (posed) portraits of his children playing in the contemporary Eden.

His photography is kaleidoscopic! His series cover an extraordinarily wide range of subjects ―an abandoned object, a majestic plant, a sun being― and techniques ―colour and black and white; documentary photography and more conceptual photographie plasticienne. A veritable explosion of styles that gives rise to fragments not of the imagination but of dreams! As exemplified by aforementioned Vivants, H+ (2015-18) on transhumanism, Ether (2015) on how human activity leaves traces in the sky, Matthieu Gafsou creates what he calls “maddeningly incomplete narratives” of the present. Narratives conceived as veritable films that provide new ways of looking at the real world and thoughts that inspire us. It doesn’t come as a surprise to learn that this photographer who presents himself as a quasi-sociologist first studied philosophy and cinema. And even if he refuses (wrongly in our opinion) to see himself as an artist, his photographs, whether taken individually or especially as series, reveal an underlying arc if we consider them as works in motion. Through him, all objects come alive, like his series of Tectona chairs in the desert or the ‘lived in’ benches of an oddly empty Musée Picasso. Gafsou, a photographic adventurer of real and imagined lands!

Picture of Matthieu Gafsou - Tectona Batten low armchair

Where to find us !

France

Internet www.tectona.fr info@tectona.fr

Stores

Paris 36, rue du Bac

75007 Paris

Tel + 33 1 47 03 38 05 paris@tectona.fr

Lyon

8, rue Antoine de Saint Exupéry 69002 Lyon Tel + 33 4 78 37 05 05 lyon@tectona.fr

Switzerland

Internet www.tectona.ch suisse@tectona.ch

Spain

Internet www.tectona.es madrid@tectona.es

Italy

Internet www.tectona.it milano@tectona.it

Mail order

Phone

+33 1 47 03 05 05

Saint-Rémy de Provence

7, avenue Albin Gilles

13 210 Saint-Rémy de Provence Tel +33 4 32 62 05 05 saintremy@tectona.fr

Vallauris

3015, chemin Saint-Bernard 06225 Vallauris

Tel + 33 4 92 96 92 29 vallauris@tectona.fr

Mail order Phone

+41 22 700 10 10

Mail order

Phone

+34 91 781 18 45

Mail 36, rue du Bac - 75007 Paris

Doudeville (Normandie)

Z.A. de Colmont 76560 Doudeville

Tel + 33 2 35 95 79 20 entrepot@tectona.fr By appointment

Store Nyon Avenue Viollier, 4 - 1260 Nyon Tel + 41 22 700 10 10 suisse@tectona.ch

Store Madrid Calle de Claudio Coello, 22 28001 Madrid

Tel + 34 91 781 18 45 madrid@tectona.es

Mail order

Phone

+39 02 65 34 23

Store Milan Via della Moscova, 47/A

20121 Milan

Tel + 39 02 65 34 23 milano@tectona.it