The colour and surface texture of the cast aluminium table legs, which have a black powder-coated finish, are nearly indistinguishable from the plastic frame of the perfectly matched Belleville Chair. And since the materials of the table tops and seat shells are either identical or harmoniously coordinated, the tables and chairs form a unified yet diverse group - a hybrid family of furnishings whose materiality resists classification.
Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, the Breton-born brothers, are the stars of European design and the most promising industrial designers to have emerged from France since Philippe Starck in the 1980s.
A combination of romanticism and functionality runs throughout both brothers’ work. Like all truly talented designers, the Bouroullecs have defined a distinctive visual style, which Jasper Morrison (one of the designers they most admire) described as “thoughtful and disciplined, with a real spirit and poetry”.
