Monograph dedicated to an iconic couple of the design scene from the 1990's. Their use of uncommon materials with Baroque influence contributed to the development of the “Barbare” style which had a strong impact on contemporary French design aesthetics.
Nadia Croquet is a cultural manager at the Centre des Monuments Nationaux, Paris.
Laurent Le Bon is the chairman of Picasso Museum, Paris.
Pierre Staudenmeyer (1952-2007) is the founder of Néotu gallery, design theoretician, writer, critic, and curator.
French designers Elisabeth Garouste (born 1949 in Paris) and Mattia Bonetti (born 1953 in Lugano) have produced in twenty years a diversified body of work, made of both English eccentricity and French conceptualization, extending from individual works commissioned by affluent collectors to more mass-market commissions for such companies as Nina Ricci. They first started their collaboration in 1980. The following year, their barbaric objects were on display at Jansen Gallery in Paris. Subsequently, they participated in numerous group exhibitions at Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris, Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York, Seibu Museum, Tokyo... Separated since 2002, the two designers now pursue a solo career.
