There’s something nostalgic about Djivan Schapira’s lacquered pieces—a coral-hued 12-person resin dining table that looks more like a vintage surfboard balancing on thick cylindrical legs than it does a piece of furniture, a sultry table lamp comprised of a glossy burlwood disk boasting a fiery red in-lay that creates a warm backdrop for a single exposed bulb, and an eye-catching coffee table featuring subtle brass ribbons looping through the layered mossy green surfaces, among others.
The 28-year-old French expat’s retro-inspired works of art are the result of his somewhat disconnected interests: “I’m very inspired by classic cars, Space Age design, lava lamps, and the French countryside where I grew up,” he says. “But I’m most inspired by my father, Antoine Schapira,” the artistic patriarch of the family. All of his highly diverse influences effortlessly find each other in his work, which the young New York–based artist is putting on display at the High Line Nine Galleries in New York through the end of March.
Many of Larose Guyon’s pieces, including the Otéro light, are inspired by fine jewelry.
Photo: Larose GuyonPartners in both life and business, Audrée Larose and Félix Guyon bring an Old World exquisiteness to their work, which is shaped by local artisans employing savoir-faire and traditional techniques in their Verchères, Quebec, studio. Their pieces, which range from a string of globe fixtures that honor the elegant fashion icon Coco Chanel to a chandelier comprised of glistening aged brass discs that nod to Pierre Le Royer, a 19th-century French-Canadian fur trapper, the pieces donning intricate silhouettes offer as much light as they do charisma. Larose admits, “We often say that we are not doctors and we don’t save lives, but we always try to find a purpose to our work. Ours is to bring poetry and magic into people’s homes.”
Poetry and magic may be the takeaways from their finished pieces, but fine jewelry has always been a source of inspiration behind their sensual collections. From Perle 1, a gently marbled globe light that balances in the center of a satiny metal chain, to Otéro, an elegant tribute to Caroline Otéro and her passion for gleaming, eye-catching jewels, it’s clear how big of a role jewelry plays in their studio. Larose adds, “For our new collection, launching spring 2022, we turned our inspirations towards the majestic surrounding nature, as we’ve been exploring and reinterpreting the moving landscape and the complexity of nature’s elements.”
