Inspiring and full of positive energy – merely the first impression captivates every observer: the furniture of Pierre Renart influences and changes every room. The lines, curves and arches of his sculptural artworks move the soul with their dynamic expressiveness and self-perception. The materials, the colour tones and the graining of the wood used have a beneficial power – atmospheric and appealing; haptic and harmonious. The furniture lends elegance and a touch of playful lightness to a room. The extraordinarily skilled craftsmanship fascinates and reveals a mind of enormous creativity and imaginative singularity.
Pierre Renart was already passionate about wood from an early age. As soon as he could hold a saw and hammer, he made his own toys; artistic creations and his first items of furniture followed. His firm desire to become a furniture designer manifested itself while he was still at school; he completed his studies at the École Boule in Paris where he was the best student in his year. He rapidly developed his own unmistakeable signature and a virtuosity in handling wood based on his profound knowledge of the material. He is extremely productive, although his requirement to maintain the craftsmanship quality never diminishes. He always makes a 1:10 scale model first to test the planned furniture piece for stability and coherence. Then he constructs the piece from individual layers of wood, brings it into shape and polishes it. How he achieves the transitions and progressions of the grain so that it appears to come from one piece of wood is his secret. The Wave Desk proves this with great subtlety, as does the Eclosion Coffee Table; his latest piece, a further development of the Genesis Wooden Armchair – his masterpiece which was also his final examination piece – is a retrospective on an art-deco model from 1933, which he brings into the modern age with a touch of genius.
The bench nestles against the column as though it were cast from one piece, and you immediately feel a desire to take a seat and linger here. The organic shapes feel like a response to human nature and create a sense of fellowship. They merge harmoniously into the spacious open lobby of the iconic building at 22 Bishopsgate, London – where they attract an appropriately high degree of attention. In one creative process Pierre Renart has shaped seven large-format furniture pieces for this monumental project. Seemingly without effort he is able to capture movement and manifest it in his works. In a tireless procedure, the limits of the material are exceeded so that the potential of the wood can be exploited to the full. American walnut is his preferred type of wood, either natural or stained, but he also uses African Padauk with its reddish tones and striking grained Indian rosewood.
The works of Pierre Renart – here his High Table from the Ruban Collection, crowned with a leather installation by Bill Amberg – can be admired worldwide in exhibitions and at trade fairs. Already in 2019, when he was just 29 years old, his Möbius Console in American walnut was added to the permanent collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. France’s Mobilier National, the national authority for furniture, purchased a Möbius Console in padauk and the Eclosion Coffee Table in American walnut. His collections are exclusively represented by the renowned maison parisienne gallery. He has also received individual commissions for customised furniture from collectors or architects, such as furnishing the Studio Harcourt Café in the 16th arrondissement or his collaboration with luxury brand Longchamp. The art of transforming wood is clearly in Renart’s blood – and the word 'art' is even hidden in his name. It’s something he simply has to do.
