Custom Work

Over the last decade Maison Gerard, long considered one of the city’s premier sources of Art Deco furniture, has developed relationships with dozens of contemporary designers and artists from around the world. In so doing, the gallery has broadened its reputation—and is now as well known for its expertly curated contemporary design as its impressive inventory of museum quality antiques.

Common to the work of gallery’s designers and artists (as well as to the work of Art Deco titans) is an emphasis on meticulous craftsmanship and materials of the finest quality. These standards are evident whether in the work of Italian architect Achille Salvagni, whose symphonies of onyx, bronze, and parchment are unlike anything produced in decades, or of Michael Coffey, whose “geolithic” carvings are a grand reimaging of nouveau, which in their scale, beauty, and natural qualities evince the sublime. Or, even, in the work of Kiko Lopez, an American ex-pat and one of the last artisans working in églomisé, a silver applique traditional to artisans of the south of France. Lopez has breathed life into the all-but-forgotten technique, jettisoning traditional patterns for marvelous abstractions, all of which call to mind developments in the visual as well as the decorative arts.

These are but a few of the artists the gallery commissions to execute bespoke projects—work tailored to meet the demands of each space, the desires of each client. We are proud to present this review—a few projects in which the gallery’s contemporary artists have played a part.