The National Library of France and the Mobilier National have just announced a partnership around the design of a new reading chair. The seat will be designed by designer Patrick Jouin and prototyped in the National Furniture Research and Creation Workshop. It will be installed around the historic “Recoura” tables. A call for tenders is launched to find a publisher.
It is an unprecedented partnership: the Mobilier national collaborates with the BNF for the design of a seat, accompanied by Patrick Jouin for the design of the product. A major challenge, since this reading chair is destined to become emblematic of the Oval room of the Quadrilatère Richelieu, “Historical cradle of the BNF”.
Indeed, the Quadrilatère Richelieu has been the subject of a comprehensive renovation project since June 2011. The latter, led by the Gaudin Architectes agency, aims in particular to “Create an art history campus open to the city with the BnF, the INHA and the National School of Charters” .
For the realization of this foundation, Patrick Jouin works in concert with the National Furniture Research and Creation Workshop, which was founded by the former Minister André Malraux in 1964, in order to “Promote creation and contemporary design in France”. ARC aims to support the contemporary creation of furniture, within the framework of public orders. This workshop, made up of twelve technicians, designs in collaboration with major figures in the design of seats, furniture and lighting intended for the fitting out of public institutions, ministries or embassies. He has produced more than six hundred parts, using traditional techniques or new manufacturing processes, integrating the use of numerically controlled machines.
And the first prototypes that the Intramuros editorial staff saw some time ago once again show incredible cabinetmaking work, in particular to ensure fineness of the joints, while meeting the constraints of a seat intended for a intensive use.
Note, as part of the BNF and Mobilier national partnership, a call for tenders is launched to find a publisher “Who will be responsible, on the one hand, to manufacture copies of the chair for the hall and, on the other hand, to market the chair to the public” .
