Maria Pergay's Brilliant Furniture Designs - Fusing Marquetry with Stainless Steel

Maria Pergay: Between Ideas and Design

Maria Pergay

Hello to All That: A 70's Star Reborn  

Stuart Isett for the New York Times

Currents | QandA

New York Times

Maria Pergay, 79, Furniture Designer 

By RIMA SUQI
Published: May 19, 2010

Last weekend, while New York City was overrun by design enthusiasts in town for the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, Maria Pergay, a 79-year-old Parisian furniture designer relatively unknown in this country, was ensconced in a nautical modernist room at the Maritime Hotel.

She was in New York not for the furniture fair — an event, it turns out, that she has never heard of — but to show her latest work at the Demisch Danant gallery in Chelsea (including a sofa of broken bricks she is shown sitting on). Those expecting a woman of her age to produce soft, feminine, upholstered pieces appropriate for a Paris pied-à-terre may be surprised by what has been Ms. Pergay’s material of choice for decades: stainless steel...

"Making Its Mark"

Nancy A. Ruhling,

Art and Antiques, 2006

"Today, a handful of renowed artists, notably Silas Kopf, Maria Pergay, Jay Stanger and Jean-Charles Spindler, innovatively employ marquetry and parquetry and inlay and intarsia in their work as a means to an artistic end. “There are not a lot of contemporary artists working with marquetry,” says Scott Jacobson, owner of Manhattan’s Leo Kaplan Modern. “It’s highly skilled work and painstaking.”

Regardless of the style or type of inlay, the wide appeal of marquetry is more than surface deep. Art lovers, for example, are drawn to Pergay’s work, which incorporates stainless steel inlays in a variety of finishes and other unusual combinations of precious woods and natural elements like mother of pearl, says Suzanna Demisch, a partner in Manhattan’s Demisch Danant, “because they can’t figure out how it’s done.”

While cutting-edge sculptural works like Pergay’s, which sell for $15,000 to $150,000, prove that marquetry and parquetry and inlays and intarsia always will have a place in the art world, the craft it takes to turn out tour-de-force pieces is another matter."

Studio Job's "Industry" marquetry collection

MiArtStudio's present goal is to introduce you to the leading contemporary marquetry and inlay artists

I want to give you a brief profile of each, show a few images from their portfolio and share my enjoyment of their art. I'm moving laterally from artist to artist, not worrying about chronology. I plan to catch up with the present in due course, get into the traffic and start focusing on what's new/next.

I was starting a post on Pieter Maes's marquetry portfolio, but got sidetracked by Justin McGuirk on design about Studio Job's Industry Collection. What to do, stay on mission or jump in with the traffic? As usual, the answer is "both and more..." :-)

'Industry' Table

"Dutch/Belgian design duo Studio Job treat furniture as sculpture, creating a beautiful tale of industry's demise that looks back to the arts and crafts movement." 

(from "Is it design, or is it ... art?" by Justin McGuirk)

'Industry' Screen

"Marquetry is an amazing craft. Studio Job takes the traditional technique and adds some contemporary twists for their “Industry Series,” which will be on display from today at Carpenters Workshop Gallery in London." (from Selectism) 

'Industry' Table

'Industry'

Studio Job has previously exhibited in "Telling Tales" at the Victoria and Albert Museum. “Industry Series” will be on view through May 8, 2010. Carpenters Workshop Gallery is located at 3 Albermarle St, London, W1s. (via Dezeen).

Marquetry and inlay ripple effects

Each experience, and post, creates a ripple effect of ideas and associations. I'll reflect on some of these via smaller posts. I'm eager to introduce you to leading artists, collectors and others involved in the inlay arts. I want to tell you about what interests me and learn what interests you. We'll have to be patient and let this process take its course.

M.C. Escher

A Few Thoughts...

I'll have to learn the blogging ropes. I'm using images and quotes from other blogs and sites in my enthusiasm to show you what inspires me. I'll attribute and link to all of these sources so that you can enjoy them as well. I'll also double check my information for accuracy. If I make mistakes, please let me know at Kim@MiArtStudio.com and I'll correct them right away.

I enjoy these wonderful art forms and the highly skilled artists and designers who've mastered them. I hope that you will as well! - kd

BTW - M. C. Escher designed for marquetry as well. 

Escher's Marquetry in Leiden

Condensed from biography written by Bruno Ernst for the book M.C. Escher - His Life and Complete Graphic Work, © 1981, with some material from original essays by M.C. Escher: In May 1940, the Nazi army invaded Holland and Belgium; Brussels and its suburbs were occupied on the 17th. At the end of May, Escher's mother died.

Due to the invasion, he missed her funeral at The Hague.

Leiden Town Hall Commission

Escher spent the rest of 1940 settling his mother's affairs, and executing a commission to decorate the town hall of Leiden. He and Jetta found a house in Baarn, Holland, and moved there in February of 1941.

Escher's Marquetry in Leiden

M.C. Escher's commission to decorate the town hall of leiden

Search Amazon.com for M.C. Escher