Elle Decoration UK - 09.2019

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SEPTEMBER 2019 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK 41

WORDS: FIONA MCCARTHY PICTURES: DERRYCK MENERE

‘The idea behind each Maison Dada piece is to create character,’

says co-founder Thomas Dariel, who, with his partner Delphine

Moreau, founded the French-Chinese design house in 2016. ‘We

create animated furniture – the asymmetrical shapes and vibrant

colours such as cobalt blue and fire-engine red give personality

and feeling.’ Dariel, the great-grandson of a French furniture

designer, grandson of a jazz musician and son of an architect,

moved to China in 2006 to launch an interior-design studio when

he was just 24. Travel is a constant source of inspiration, along with

the Tang dynasty, 18th-century France, and early-20th-century

Viennese figures including Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann.

With Maison Dada (its name a homage to the early-20th-century

Dadaist art movement), expect the unexpected – take the ‘P.E.A.C.E’

table lamp, which imitates a Picasso-inspired posy of light globes,

and the shape of the base of the ‘Off the Moon’ side table, which is

informed by different lunar phases. A set of surrealist candleholders

the brand created for Parisian candlemaker Cire Trudon last year

borrowed the circus-meets-Calder feel of the existing collection;

the same colourful vibe can be felt, too, with the ‘Little Eliah’ lamps,

powder-coated in brights with a spherical metal switch.

Maison Dada’s newest collection includes Moroccan-inspired

mirrors in partnership with French designer José Lévy, and key

pieces designed by Dariel, including the glossy, ridged bone china

‘Du Roy’ stool (named after Guy de Maupassant’s famous character

from the novel Bel Ami), manufactured in Jingdezhen and Saint-

Amand-les-Eaux, the porcelain capitals of China and France.

The ‘Sachi Sacha’ table lamps and wall lamps – a nod to Gio Ponti

• team lights with arms that act like hats to create differing degrees
  of illumination; and the smash-hit ‘Yiban Yiban’ armchairs (meaning
  ‘half-half ’ in Chinese) are a new take on the winged chair, upholstered
  with a Kvadrat velvet from its Raf Simons collection.
  Designing furniture was always Dariel’s greatest dream, after
  discovering a toothbrush conceived by Philippe Starck. ‘Realising
  I had the power to create objects was the greatest feeling,’ he says.
  With Maison Dada, the aim is to have fun, too: ‘I want our pieces
  to inject the spirit of Dadaism into everyday life.’ maisondada.com

INSIDE STORY

MAISON DA DA

With outrageous pops of colour and unexpected shapes, this design house certainly knows how to grab attention

Clockwise from top left ‘Yiban Yiban’ armchair, £1,968; ‘Yin & Yang’ chest of drawers, £2,346; ‘Du Roy ’ stool, £504; ‘Ticking Clock’

rocking chair, £672; ‘Sachi Sacha’ table lamp, £519; ‘Confidence of a Cloud’ writing desk, £3,618, all Maison Dada