Garouste and Bonetti Benches
Design duo Garouste and Bonetti is best known for concocting Surrealist, avant-garde, romantic furniture and lighting that merge whimsy and wonder with luxury and sophistication.
Born in Paris in 1946, Élizabeth Garouste studied interior design at the École Camondo and worked as a theater set designer before meeting Mattia Bonetti in the late 1970s. Bonetti, born in Lugano, Switzerland, in 1952, attended Lugano’s Centro Scolastico per L’Industria Artistica, where he studied textile design and got into photography.
Their first collaboration came in 1981, after Garouste’s husband, interior designer Gérard Garouste, asked them both to produce designs for the Paris restaurant Le Privilège. They devised a collection of Art Brut–inspired furniture called Barbare, which debuted at the Jansen House of Interior Design, earning them the nickname Les Nouveaux Barbares (the New Barbarians).
Garouste and Bonetti achieved international acclaim in 1987 when French couturier Christian Lacroix hired them to design for his maisons de couture in Paris and London. Instead of the staid decor used by other haute couture houses, Garouste and Bonetti’s furnishings were rebellious and daring. As described in Architectural Digest, “rooms and carpets were acrid ochers, edged with black baroque swirls Louis XVI-inspired chairs upholstered in fruit tones. Tree stump stools topped with ivory tufted cushions. White curtains were trimmed with black polka dots the size of pancakes.”
Following their success with Lacroix, Garouste and Bonetti designed interiors for illustrious clients such as German socialite Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis and Bernard Picasso, a French art collector and grandson of Pablo Picasso.
Throughout the late 1980s and ’90s, Garouste and Bonetti designed several modern pieces such as rainbow-colored console tables, the wavy, high-backed Koala sofa, ceramic tableware, table lamps and decorative objects. In 2002, the duo parted ways.
Bonetti continues to create furniture, finding inspiration in everything from ancient Greece to children’s toys to UFOs. His works have been shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
Garouste also continues to design and is inspired by the natural world for her “quirky pieces,” Élisabeth Delacarte, owner of the Paris gallery Avant-Scène, says of her designs: “You feel like you’re in a dream rather than in reality. She very much has her own universe.”
On 1stDibs, find a range of vintage Garouste and Bonetti tables, seating and serveware.
Late 20th Century French Post-Modern Garouste and Bonetti Benches
Bronze
1980s American Post-Modern Vintage Garouste and Bonetti Benches
Stainless Steel
1990s French Post-Modern Garouste and Bonetti Benches
Parchment Paper
1980s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Garouste and Bonetti Benches
Maple
21st Century and Contemporary Asian Country Garouste and Bonetti Benches
Wood
1990s French Mid-Century Modern Garouste and Bonetti Benches
Brass, Wrought Iron
1990s French Modern Garouste and Bonetti Benches
Bronze
1980s American Post-Modern Vintage Garouste and Bonetti Benches
Leather
19th Century Classical Roman Antique Garouste and Bonetti Benches
Wood
19th Century Classical Roman Antique Garouste and Bonetti Benches
Wood
Late 20th Century British Post-Modern Garouste and Bonetti Benches
Wrought Iron, Brass
1980s American Vintage Garouste and Bonetti Benches
Fiberglass
1980s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Garouste and Bonetti Benches
Elm
Late 20th Century French Garouste and Bonetti Benches
Velvet
