On the one hand, there is the young Galerie Goossens at Rue Cambon 20 in Paris. Young in a manner of speaking, actually, because though it was opened in 2020 to display the creations of the company of the same name in the field of decorative arts, it is based on the legacy of Robert Goossens (1927-2016), who was encouraged in 1953 by Coco Chanel to create his first objects, after having earned the nickname of Monsieur Bijou.
On the other, there is Harumi Klossowska de Rola, the daughter of Balthus, one of the most famous French painters of the 20th century, and of the artist Setsuko Ideta. Raised on bread and beauty at Villa Medici, the magnificent location of the French Academy in Rome – where her father was the director for some time – she is now a creator of jewelry.
This encounter has led to a sublime fable made of unique objects of extraordinary poetic impact, in which flora and fauna harmoniously unfold in a pervasive, sophisticated fantasy. Pieces delicately forged by Harumi’s hands, applying her foremost tools of the trade, namely peace and calm, crafted in her home in the mountains of Switzerland, where she works surrounded by her source of inspiration: nature.
The objects she creates in gilded metal and rock crystal embody a sort of animism, also inherited from Japanese culture. Moss, a plant that symbolizes joy and hope, grows along a mirror or defines lamps that seem like bouquets. The animal that is the symbol of Goossens, the lion, becomes a paperweight or conceals the precious contents of a jewelry box.
Functional sculptures in which every detail has been carefully honed, respecting the materials that belong to the Goossens tradition, first for jewelry and now for art objects for interior decorating. Keeping faith with the precious, dreamy creativity that has generated the universe of a maison full of history. To present the collection in Paris during Maison&Objet, Goossens was invited by The Invisible Collection to a very evocative location: the workshop/museum of Féau Boiseries. And the impression was indeed of being in a fairy tale.
