At each edition of “Genius Loci”, Marion Vignal, the curator of the exhibition at the Ange Volant, in Garches, offers a unique experience of the place and the design. The opportunity to discover some twenty unique works in the unique house in France imagined by the brilliant architect Gio Ponti.
Among the pavilions of this peaceful suburb to the west of Paris nestles an architectural gem, a house designed by the Italian architect Gio Ponti. Built in 1927, for Tony Bouilhet, the owner of the Christofle goldsmith and tableware house, the Villa l’Ange Volant, gives us a very personal reading of architecture. At first glance, a house on a human scale, with correct proportions and balanced facade, inspired by Palladian Italian architecture and its gardens. Then the interior reveals the double-height living room of astonishing modernity which is also a masterful decor, where the gaze is lost a little, so many beauties to be seen. If we look at the elegant curves of the armchairs, the details of the ceiling, the refinement of the colors or the door handles, we see that the architectural work is total! Gio Ponti knew how to draw everything with lightness and theatricality! The Flying Angel also reveals an ode to love, since the villa gave birth to the couple formed by Tony Bouilhet, the sponsor of the place, and by Carla Borletti, niece of Gio Ponti, and they were married there in 1928 a year after the inauguration …
Genius Loci, the spirit of the place
Each edition of “Genius Loci” offers a program in a private place, and offers to see the works of artists, designers, architects, in an immersive experience. “I selected the artists intuitively, so that they resonate with the work of Gio Ponti and, in particular, with this house for which I fell in love “, explains Marion Vignal, curator of the exhibition. We can thus find the sculptures of Nao Matsunaga in the vestibule, the floor lamp by Michael Anastassiades, the mirror paintings by Maurizio Donzelli, or the large glass table in the dining room by Studio KO, the transparent resin bench by Studio Nucleo. We note this judicious choice of the blue stone bench from Hainaut, presented on the terrace, by Belgian architects Bas Smets and Éliane Le Roux, referring to Ponti’s passion for bridges. The Italian designer 1950’s pair of blue velvet first-class train chairs converse with the coffee table in the living room in welded mirrors and cut like a block of crystal, by the English artist Julian Mayor. One of the special orders made for this event.
Anne Swynguedauw
To discover until October 24, 2021, free entry by reservation, all information on www.geniusloci-experience.com
