Studio Adrien Gardère

Adrien Gardère conceived this exhibition, devoted to the colonial chairs of the former Indian French territory, during his stay in India and after meeting with Gilles Castro, director of the Alliance Française de Pondicherry. 

These seats and chairs, the fruit of contacts between France and India, were at the origin of technical and aesthetic innovations, which produced a profound renewal of the art of French cabinetmaking. One still finds the echoes in contemporary design of this unique cultural syncretism that made the uniqueness of the furniture of Pondicherry.

At the invitation of Marie-Claude Beaud - Director of the Central Union of Decorative Arts - the exhibition was created in the Louvre Marsan wing of the Parisian museum. Adrien Gardère created a scenography made of games of transparency and superposition, far from any exotic reconstruction, which invites the public to reconsider these colonial seats in confrontation to contemporary seats and armchairs. 

The exhibition was also held at the Alliance Française de Pondicherry in August 1998.