The Exchange, Loïc Le Gaillard and Julien Lombrail - FOR MUCH OF their career as gallerists, Loïc Le Gaillard and Julien Lombrail—founders of Carpenters Workshop Gallery—have questioned the perceived boundaries between contemporary art and design. “We’re nonconformists, because we’re not interested in design, as such—the functionality of the object is not relevant,” says Le Gaillard, 47. “What we like is the way that there is strong narrative in the object.” By way of example, he cites a curvilinear sofa by one of their designers, Sebastian Brajkovic, which appears to almost melt into the ground on one side, thus blurring the line between sculpture and furniture. So which is it? “Does it matter? Is it good enough as one or the other? Does function lower or increase the perceived value of an object or artwork?” Le Gaillard asks. In truth, the answer for Le Gaillard and Lombrail, who both grew up in Paris and have been close friends for two decades, is where art and design intersect. “We like the object to be an artwork,” says Lombrail, 40.
Before they joined forces, Le Gaillard and Lombrail each had art galleries of their own, in London and Paris, respectively, where their collections included visual art. They soon recognized their shared and growing interest in craft and form, and in 2006, the duo opened the first CWG in London’s Chelsea (they moved to Mayfair in 2008). They now have spaces in Paris, New York and, as of last year, San Francisco, helping talents like Studio Job, Maarten Baas, Robert Stadler and Ingrid Donat (Lombrail’s mother) realize their most audacious creations. Inspired by the Dutch Design movement, which has flourished since the 1990s, the two seek to regenerate the art of craftsmanship by offering their artists the opportunity to experiment and innovate with the help of some of France’s best artisans, who work out of their immense workshop just outside of Paris. Lombrail calls the space, which they opened in 2015, their “toy factory.”
Today, the items forged in the CWG foundry, or
hand-carved and crafted in the gallery’s wood and
upholstery workshops, end up in some of the most
beautiful homes in the world—influential architects
like Peter Marino, Pierre Yovanovitch and Jacques
Grange frequently acquire pieces for their clients.
“We never know if a piece will sell or not, but we are
quite confident that we will be able to convince eight
people in the world to buy it,” says Lombrail.
This May, CWG will showcase what it does best during the 58th Venice Biennale. CWG’s group show, titled Dys-Functional, invites 14 of its artists, including Studio Drift and the fashion designer Virgil Abloh, to create site-specific works inside the elaborate Ca’ d’Oro palazzo. The works will be installed alongside the palazzo’s formidable art collection.
“We wanted to say loud and clear that the way we think about design is [that it’s] equally as important as art,” Le Gaillard says.
