From the Mobilier National to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the Noguchi Museum and the Villa Albertine, the YMER&MALTA studio is a major contemporary figure in French furniture and decorative arts. Collectors are not mistaken and solicit Valérie Maltaverne for unique creations, branded by the studio.
YMER&MALTA and the Mobilier national
After the Aubusson Manufactory, a historic institution that is more than three centuries old, it is another jewel in the history of French decorative arts that has given Valérie Maltaverne carte blanche. The Mobilier National, heir to the Crown’s furniture storehouse, plays a role in the preservation of heritage but also ensures the continuity of French taste and its excellence. When YMER&MALTA is given complete freedom to design a furniture ensemble, it is an invaluable pledge of confidence as well as an endorsement of the studio and its director as the contemporary heirs of the most famous French furniture designers.
Mastering the savoir faire and with the ability to make it evolve, Valérie Maltaverne orchestrates with designers and craftsmen a ballet that gracefully handles the noblest materials and their implications in the art of living of the 21st century. For the Mobilier National, these are a bookcase, a desk and three lights (floor lamp, desk lamp and wall lamp) that paint the lines of a contemporary interior life. The marquetry used for the bookcase entangles shades of blond wood. It evokes the vibrant energy of a dense forest and echoes Forest, the trompe-l’oeil bench woven for Aubusson.
Nature resonates in this set as in all YMER&MALTA creations. Landscapes and their emotions captured by Valérie Maltaverne take shape to restore the calm and serenity of a comfortable life, free of technical accessories, skillfully hidden to rest the mind.
The velvety desk, covered with leather in lengths beyond the nome, invites the touch of this softly shaped upholstery work. An exercise already mastered in the À Fleur de Peau collection. The woodwork, polished like driftwood, snakes discreetly across the surfaces, linking them to each other, to the bookcase and to the lighting fixtures.
They are the finishing touch to a set designed to be sculpted by light throughout the day. And when the natural light fades, the light diffused by the lamps becomes the memory of its presence, warm and comforting. Porcelain, already magnified by 3D printing technology for the Belle de Nuit biscuit porcelain lamp, is used again here. The extremely precise modulations of the material’s thickness, obtained after patient research in the Mobilier National’s Research and Creation workshop, have made it possible to restore the translucence of the shells. Solidity of line and organic sensitivity create a powerful and poetic blend, controlled and serene.
Collectors’ pieces
The studio operates like a haute couture house. Each collection includes a certain number of pieces, each of which is limited to eight pieces, and is recognised as a milestone in the history of French furniture and decorative arts by the major institutions.
Several pieces have been acquired by them, both in France and abroad (Mobilier national and Musée des arts décoratifs in Paris or the Isamu Noguchi Museum in New York, to name but a few).
Tailor-made, YMER&MALTA creations are the fruit of an atelier work where the small hands of multi-centennial craftsmanship rub shoulders with the latest technological innovation to take them to unknown but always fertile territories of expression. Valérie Maltaverne guides and gives impetus to designers and craftsmen to create luxurious and rare pieces that private collectors live with every day.
These are also custom-made orders where the inimitable character of the YMER&MALTA studio can be seen. The signature is discreet, only known by aesthetes, but its touch is sought after, as evidenced by the requests of prestigious institutions and individuals.
Better than anyone, Hervé Lemoine, the director of the Mobilier National, asserts the studio’s place in French art, since “by presenting this ensemble designed by YMER&MALTA […] and produced by the Atelier de Recherche et de Création (ARC), the Mobilier National is reviving the French tradition of designing and decorating living spaces.”
Only a few years ago, YMER&MALTA was seen as a major studio, but now it has established itself as the signature of the most important public and private collections.
