Chic Repetita
BY SOLINE DELOS
Reissues of furniture by great design names are multiplying. Why this enthusiasm, and how can one make sense of it?
What is a reissue?
It is a piece designed by a named designer whose manufacturing rights have been acquired from the rights holders by a manufacturer or editor, who undertakes to reproduce it in accordance with the original model. (...) The idea, as Isabelle de Ponfilly explains, is always “to improve without distorting.”
Why this enthusiasm?
“Buying a reissue of a design classic means making a piece of history your own, something that has stood the test of time, and sometimes also rediscovering pieces of astonishing modernity created by forgotten designers,” explains Jean-Paul Bath, director of the gallery Le French Design by VIA. According to Isabelle de Ponfilly, co-founder with her daughter Joséphine Bursacchi of the young house Source Édition, reissues make rare and expensive works accessible. It is Source Édition, in fact, that brought renewed attention to André Monpoix’s Dialogue lounge chair, which once furnished Simone Veil’s office, as well as to the flat-pack furniture of Turenne Chevallereau, the creator of the Longchamp logo, better known for his career as a graphic designer and illustrator.
“MINIFLORE No. 1” BY CLAUDE COURTECUISSE, 1970, SOURCE ÉDITION: €85
“TU-TU” SIDE TABLE BY TURENNE CHEVALLEREAU, 1968, SOURCE ÉDITION: €1,500
