LIONEL JADOT
LIONEL JADOT Copyright © 2021 Todd Merrill All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.
Todd Merrill
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Self published using Lightning Press Totowa, NJ
LIONEL JADOT As a sixth-generation member of the famous Vanhamme family of furniture makers, in the world of design, Lionel Jadot is equal parts self-taught and “to the manner born”.
to achieve all that was in my notebooks. It is an exciting job; it’s more an expression, free of any constraints. But it is also a free reflection on design and art, and this fragile border that I love to cross in both directions.”
While not easily categorized by a singular style, Jadot’s work could most easily be recognized by his affinity for repurposed materials and his deft eye at creating harmony and balance out of the collision of disparate elements. With the vision and confidence to experiment and evolve, Jadot has made a practice of skirting tradition by mixing genres, inspirations, and materials to achieve his iconoclastic vision. Key to his work process is a strong belief in craftsmanship and integrity in terms of behavior and approach. The principle of reclamation has been relevant to Jadot from a young age. As a child in his father’s workshop, Jadot developed a keen attraction and respect for materials, coveting the bits of scrap wood and leather that would accumulate around the floor and had been deemed “fair game.” Today this manifests as both a philosophical and aesthetic tenet to his work. Manipulating materials that have been salvaged permeates the works with a sense of character, history, and humanity. Working from a near photographic mental library of materials and influences, he is at once artist, tinkerer, and inventor. He explains, “What interests me is ideas passing though memory, and the influences mixing. Culture meeting subculture, mixing genre – from memory. I filled notebooks of ideas and with this approach I decided
ZAVENTEM ATELIERS Jadot is also the mastermind behind Zaventem Ateliers, an experimental artist workspace housed within a 6,000 square meter, 19th century paper factory in the center of Zaventem, near Brussels. In 2018 he acquired the building and redesigned it as an “autonomous hive” accomodating 32 separate workshops dedicated to the production and transformation of materials, allowing a group of exceptional craftsmen, both established and emerging, working in ceramics, leather, metal, marble, textiles, and wood to collaborate, experiment, and inspire one another.
Photo by: Lydie Nesvadba
In 2020 Lionel Jadot conceived of, spearheaded, and along with the artists of Zaventem Ateliers created an extraordinary mixed-media, multi-functional art object in the form of an exceedingly unique ping pong table, titled Spin Love. Designed by Jadot, Spin Love is one of the largest collaborative projects of collectible design today, bringing together 15 of Europe’s most exceptional artisans working across the design spectrum. As a physical representation of the ingenuity and creative drive housed within the walls of Zaventem Ateliers, Jadot describes the “Spin Love” project as, “a ping pong or dining table, a sculpture, a screen, a story, a playground with unique features, lights and textiles.” In conceiving “Spin Love” Jadot aimed to create a work where visionary design and idiosyncratic craftsmanship meets the already collaborative energy, humor and playfulness he had amassed within Zaventem. Each individual element, from the mixed media table tops to the unique ping pong paddles, showcases the height of the artists’ specific expertise. The double sided clover-shaped table top can be divided into two separate tables, each with the ability to be raised to stand upright, acting as a dual-faced screen allowing for four distinct visual options. One of the table’s bifurcated halves features black and white geometrically patterned leather collages from Niyona, a French custom leather design company. Its corresponding half is composed of precious
Spin Love, 2020-21 Mixed media 35.43h x 118.50w x 112.60d in 90h x 301w x 286d cm
wood marquetry work by Alexandre Lowie with a steel star detail by jewelry designer Luna Lotta. The second table is composed of an integration of metalwork by Maison Jonckers and textiles from Studio Krjst enclosed within poured resin. On one side each artist’s work is tessellated into a tightly controlled pattern. Flipping the table over reveals an expressive and chaotic assemblage of patterns and textures. Thomas Serruys and Pierre-Emmanuel Vandeputte created the structural table legs from rusted steel piping, allowing the design to easily pivot and flip, revealing the dynamic double sides. The freestanding, movable lamps are a combination of five separate artisans. Designer Roxane Lahidji specializes in ecological material developments and applications. Her sculptural support bases are created from a sustainable material she developed called “marbled salts” exploiting the unique physical properties of salt as a self-binding composite. By mixing it with tree resin, she gives it shape and strength. Clem Van Hee of Atelier 185, which creates exclusive hand-forged knives, constructed the clamps, while Jadot himself designed the brass brackets and hookah tube that make up the eclectic lamp stems. Brass lights are folded by metal lighting designer Vladimir Slavov and covered in leather by Niyona. One of the most stunning components of the table is the artistically intricate wavy net, woven in copper and brass by Adeline Halot and embroidered with precious stones by Aurélie Lanoiselée. Charles Schambourg created individual ping-pong rackets specially designed and manufactured to mimic the shape of the table, and covered in a selection of his bespoke woven leather. With more than 50 years experience in artisan detail Schambourg‘s atelier is the premier maker
of unique woven leathers. His unique material, which can be woven with linen, wool, Lurex, even fur, beads and rocks has been used in everything from aeronautics to haute couture. While not wholly functional, multi-disciplinary artist Pascale Risbourg developed a collection of decorative porcelain paddles that are as idiosyncratic as “Spin Love” itself. As a piece of collectible design encapsulating the energy of the 15 designers brought together by Jadot, there is no parallel in terms of idea or execution. As Gisela Williams wrote for Surface Magazine and the New York Times Magazine, “Zaventem Ateliers is one of Europe’s most experimental design collectives” and now Lionel Jadot’s “Spin Love” represents it.
Created from a solid rosewood, eighteenth century Dutch cabinet, Blue Tie Roofing is Jadot’s reflection on the evolution of our civilization, and how influences and cultures become layered. The interior and doors are built so that the furniture fills itself when closed. As nothing can be stored in the cabinet, it becomes a kind of mystical, hypnotic object. When open, the cabinet has a hearth-like quality, drawing the viewer in. Covered with “scales” made of Arches paper and tinted with 21 different hues of blue and 24 carat gold leaf, its interior references a dragon. The dragon holds very divergent significance between Eastern and Western cultures. The dragon of the east is symbol of power, strength, and good luck, whereas in the west it is seen as a negative, destructive force.
Blue Tie Roofing, 2019 18th century dutch rosewood cabinet, roofing shingles, Arches paper, paint, 24 ct. gold 84 1/2h x 108w x 31d in 214.63h x 274.32w x 78.74d cm
Jadot describes his magnificent assemblage chair, embellished with 24ct gold and hardware elements, as “an enlightened assembly made with disparate elements, a game of collisions.” The pieces of raw wood are taken from a redwood root seat, recovered in a Belgian forest, while the cushions are fashioned from vintage textiles from mountain villages in Turkey, feathers, and industrial tarpaulin. An Olivetti reading lamp from 1970s is fastened to the back of the chair, operated by a switch positioned on the right arm. Resting on heavy duty industrial casters, every angle the chair has been thoughtfully considered to spark surprise.
Rolling Throne, 2019 redwood, mixed textiles, tarpaulin, electrical parts, vintage lamp 59h x 47w x 47d in 149.86h x 119.38w x 119.38d cm
With the vision and confidence to experiment and evolve, Jadot has made a practice of skirting tradition by mixing genres, inspirations, and materials to achieve his iconoclastic vision. Key to his work process is a strong belief in craftsmanship and integrity in terms of behavior and approach. His unique dining table “Prisma Flight” began with a brass dance floor discovered under layers of carpet at a former nightclub. Cut and polished, the usable parts of the brass floor were rebuilt into a puzzle, resembling a surfboard secured with flush rivets akin to an airplane wing. The table’s feet are built with heavy sheet metal formed into prism shapes. Varying colors play with the idea of light and shadow, further suggesting the prism’s refractory quality.
Prisma Flight Table, 2019 Brass 29h x 122w x 47d in 73.66h x 309.88w x 119.38d cm
Jadot’s Jam Seat, is adapted from a design prototype created sometime between 1905 – 1910 by Jadot’s greatgrandfather, the head of the legendary Vanhamme family of furniture makers. Inspired by the more geometric forms of the late Vienna Secession movement, the forward thinking chair design dismisses traditionalist style in favor of a modern, streamline look, rendered in a single material. The design is distilled into four flat planes of cut brass sheet that are pieced together like an angular puzzle. The reductive and planar form of Jam Seat predates similar conceptual designs such as Dutch designer Gerrit Rietveld’s Red and Blue Chair, created in 1917 and Shiro Kuramata’s Glass chair from 1976.
Jam Seat Brass, 2019 Brass 33h x 16w x 14d in 83.82h x 40.64w x 35.56d cm
The mixed media chandelier, Babel Crane, exemplifies Jadot’s ability to elevate common objects by ignoring their original intent and juxtaposing them with high end materials, from raw to precious. A large brass ring supports eight plaster lamps fixed by stainless steel claws painted with a treatment used in automobile finishing. The lamps were cast from a branch of a felled tree near Jadot’s house. A section of the tree branch had healed leaving a hole that let in sunlight, inspiring the form of the lamp shade. Bright blue and green industrial transport straps are guided by random shapes of pink and purple stainless steel to form the adjustable column body.
Babel Crane, 2019 brass, LEDs, plaster, steel, moving straps 74h x 66w x 66d in 187.96h x 167.64w x 167.64d cm
Crushed Seat, Jadot’s juxtaposed material assemblage, is a colossal manifestation of his unusual creative process. Constructed of reclaimed MDF that has been painted in vibrant colors and upholstered in a high performance canvas used in theater sets, the entire structure is held together with industrial clamps. The irregular shapes, unconventional assymetric form, and whimsical surfaces draw a comparison to the Memphis design movement of the 1980s. Like the Memphis movement, Crushed Seat is radical, playful, adventurous, and essentially a physical manifesto against what is traditionally considered “good taste.” The idea for Leather Time was a challenge to form a table in a single sheet of brass. The bright pink color was inspired by Malabar chewing gum, giving its slight industrial feel a sense of whimsy. Scraps of full grain leather from reclained horse saddles were cut and stitched together in an imporvised shape. Gold leaf embossed monograms dot the seams of the leather.
Crushed Seat, 2020 Reclaimed MDF, paint, strap from India, foam 76.77h x 110.24w x 70.87d in 195h x 280w x 180d cm
Leather Time, 2020 Powdercoated Brass, Leather, Gold Leaf 12.99h x 70.87w x 39.37d in 33h x 180w x 100d cm
Jadot’s mixed media and glass wardrobe, titled Show Clothes was conceived for a dressing room, the interior becoming an installation for its inner contents. In his typical fashion of juxtaposing disparate components, the greenhouse-like wardrobe is composed of bamboo, copper, scraps of wood veneer, handles of marine hardware, and sculpted brass faceted feet. In a nod to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey, the ceiling is painted in a vibrant bright green.
Show Clothes, 2020 Steel, Stainless Steel Handles from Boat, Copper, Bamboo, Veneer, Brass, LED 85.24h x 75.59w x 27.56d in 216.50h x 192w x 70d cm
Created from disparate elements, industrial netting, crane straps, military tents, and a eighteenth century textile, Jadot’s tremendous tapestry, Luncheon on the Grass, typifies his unique approach to design, his affinity for repurposed materials, and his deft eye at creating harmony and balance from found objects. The iconoclastic confrontation of refined and crude elements renders a landscape that is symbolic of our ability to overproduce and our growing throw-away culture.
Luncheon on the Grass, 2019 18th century tapestry, textile elements, a military tent, industrial nets, crane straps 118h x 157w x 2d in 299.72h x 398.78w x 5.08d cm
Todd Merrill Studio For over fifteen years, Todd Merrill Studio has exhibited and purveyed the finest selection of post-war American studio furniture. In 2008, Rizzoli published Merrill’s “Modern Americana: Studio Furniture from High Craft to High Glam”, the first ever authoritative examination of the great studio furniture makers and designers who, from 1940 through the 1990s defined American high style. To celebrate the tenth anniversary, Rizzoli published an expanded edition in 2018, adding 60 pages to his original book. This survey of the period included two additional chapters highlighting the importance of Women Makers and Showrooms.
that contribute to today’s increasingly relevant “grey space” between art and design.
In 2009, shortly after the initial publication of “Modern Americana”, Merrill launched Studio Contemporary, in an effort to develop and represent the work of an international group of established and emerging contemporary artists. Today, their work is sought after by a wide range of art and design patrons, from collectors and decorators, to curators and museum academics.
The gallery exhibits throughout the year at some of the leading art and design fairs in the world. A selection of these includes The Salon Art + Design (New York); Design Miami (Basel, Switzerland and Miami); FOG: Design + Art (San Francisco); the Pavilion of Arts and Design (New York, Paris, Geneva, and London); Collectible (Brussels); Masterpiece (London); Collect (London); Gallery Seoul (Seoul); The International Fine Art & Antiques Dealer Show (New York); Zona MACO (Mexico City); Tajan (Paris); Design Days Dubai (Dubai); Art Wynwood (Miami); Art Toronto (Toronto).
While their work may be functional or historically based, each artist brings a fresh perspective and a desire to express more than just decorative influence. With an ever growing range of mediums--from textile to porcelain, to marble and LEDs-their joint curation at Studio Contemporary relies upon their shared drive to push those materials to their absolute aesthetic limits. The result: dynamic, handmade, and unique pieces
The gallery has progressively cultivated and established new artists, placing their work into private and public collections which include The Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum (New York), The Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), The Museum of Art and Design (New York), The Victoria and Albert Museum (London), Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris), The High Museum of Art (Atlanta), and The Brooklyn Museum (New York), and the Carnegie Museum of Art (Pennsylvania), amongst others.