OLIVIER GAGNERE

"I am extremely French, in the classic sense of the word."

Born of an antique dealer's father, Olivier Gagnère quickly became passionate about decorative arts. In the 1980s, he met Ettore Sottsass and collaborated with the Memphis group. By presenting himself as a "neoclassical" designer in the tradition of the great French assemblers, he is as...

"I am extremely French, in the classic sense of the word."

Born of an antique dealer's father, Olivier Gagnère quickly became passionate about decorative arts. In the 1980s, he met Ettore Sottsass and collaborated with the Memphis group. By presenting himself as a "neoclassical" designer in the tradition of the great French assemblers, he is as much an artist as a craftsman: his complicity with the most skilled cabinetmakers, glassmakers and ceramists allows him to experiment with new lines while using an ancestral know-how. Olivier Gagnère's vases, the result of a shift in proportions, a shift in lines, reach a new balance very characteristic of his work: when he makes large format vases, pure matt white or pure matt black expresses the unity of the series and lets live and vibrate the variations in geometry. The classic form is a lure that does not really hide the highly contemporary character of the collection. A two-way reading. Requested by the National Furniture as well as by major French manufacturers, Olivier Gagnère creates objects with an elegant modernity, bringing emotion and freedom. From Paris, where he lives and works, he designs and decorates prestigious and refined places throughout the world, faithful to his culture.