Words By Allegra Salvadori | Photographs By Adel Slimane Fecih

On September 3rd, during the press preview at Galerie MCDE’s rue de Verneuil space, the air is charged with anticipation. Paris Design Week 2025 has just begun, and the gallery unveils En Résonance — a collection that bridges heritage and contemporary creation. Conceived in collaboration with Paris-based duo Biehler-Graveleine, the project celebrates the centenary of the Decorative Arts while paying homage to Pierre Chareau, the French architect and decorator whose visionary designs continue to inspire a century later.

For Galerie MCDE founders Carole Marchal Risch and Pierre-Emmanuel Risch, the encounter with Marc-Antoine Biehler and Amaury Graveleine felt inevitable. “The connection was immediate and mutual between our worlds,” they recall. “We had been following the work of Studio Biehler-Graveleine with great interest, with the desire to collaborate together. The centenary of Art Deco seemed like the perfect moment to launch this project: a wonderful opportunity to revisit certain pieces and breathe new life into them.”

The resulting collection centers on two pieces: the Solo, Duo, and Trio Wall Lamps, reinterpretations of Chareau’s rampe lumineuse transformed into one-, two-, and three-module sconces, and the Onde Table, a guéridon pedestal drawn from archival sketches and reinvented as a full-scale dining piece.

The gallery’s mission has long been to faithfully re-edit Pierre Chareau’s work in collaboration with French artisans. “Reinterpretations are rare,” Carole and Pierre-Emmanuel explain. “For us, a reinterpretation only makes sense if it emerges from an encounter, an inspiration, and an intention that resonates with the original spirit of his work. This collaboration with Studio Biehler-Graveleine is unique, as we do not currently produce the table they chose to reinterpret. It is precisely this divergence that made the project compelling: a respectful creative extension that remains closely tied to Pierre Chareau’s universe while opening up a new perspective.”

The lighting, too, offered fertile ground for exploration. Biehler and Graveleine were drawn to Chareau’s Rampe model, a highly architectural wall fixture often positioned like a cornice in his interiors. “Our goal was to reinterpret it in a more domestic context,” they explain. “By deconstructing Chareau’s original drawing and reimagining it through our own lens, we aimed to offer a fresh perspective while staying true to his modular approach. We maintained the same alabaster dimensions used in the original lamp to preserve a tangible connection to his work.”

Materiality is central to both the gallery and the studio. For MCDE, producing in France — in their Vosges workshop — is non-negotiable. “Of course, we could manufacture elsewhere to reduce costs, but the workmanship, finishes, and even the materials would drift significantly from the spirit of Pierre Chareau,” say Carole and Pierre-Emmanuel. “We are proud to perpetuate a savoir-faire that is an integral part of his heritage.”

For Biehler-Graveleine, materials carry narrative force. “We believe that materials speak for themselves — they carry their own language and expressiveness,” they note. “Take alabaster, for example: it offers an infinite range of variations through its veining and subtle shifts in tone. Each piece becomes truly unique, shaped by the stone’s own natural identity.”

The project also allowed the studio to immerse themselves in Chareau’s world in unprecedented depth. “For us, looking to the past is not only a source of knowledge — it is a way of cultivating our sensibility and refining our gaze,” they reflect. “We studied how his furniture comes to life through movement — how parts unfold, pivot, and respond to one another; how modules repeat, meet, and transform. It is these codes, both poetic and mechanical, that we have sought to reinterpret and reawaken in the new pieces we present today.”

This sensibility extends to the table, where the duo magnified an overlooked archival piece into a monumental dining design. “In our table, the spheres serve both as grounding points and as the joining mechanism for the three branches that form the base. These branches also support the tabletop and, true to Chareau’s language, end in clamp-like forms that seem to grip and hold the surface above.”

While En Résonance honors French craftsmanship, it also opens new horizons. Representing Galerie MCDE in the Middle East and Africa, Carole and Pierre-Emmanuel are eager to introduce this legacy to a broader audience. “We hope this collaboration will offer the Middle East and Africa the opportunity to discover the work of Pierre Chareau, while allowing us to showcase our French savoir-faire,” they share. “It is also a wonderful occasion to highlight alabaster — a natural stone still little used in this part of the world — and to reveal its full potential within contemporary design.”

Though the collaboration culminates in Paris, both gallery and studio see it as a beginning rather than an end. “The most challenging aspect was perhaps the development of the table,” the designers reflect. “Ensuring its structure was sound became a central focus. Looking ahead, we hope to continue developing the table in various formats — a rectangular dining table, a coffee table, a console. We are also considering new finishes: exploring different wood species, marble, brushed steel, polished brass, stainless steel. Each variation reveals a new facet of the design.”

In its title and its spirit, En Résonance embodies what happens when histories and sensibilities converge: an echo that carries Chareau’s language into the present, and ensures it will continue to vibrate in the future.

The unveiling will continue on September 4th with a cocktail at Galerie MCDE, gathering collectors, designers, and press to celebrate the launch. Yet for both the gallery and the studio, En Résonance is not just a highlight of Paris Design Week — it is the beginning of a creative dialogue that will resonate far beyond the vernissage. “Each variation reveals a new facet of the design,” note Biehler and Graveleine, hinting at future evolutions.