Piasa is presenting a selection of works by cardiologist Jean-Pierre Bruaire, who founded the Granville Gallery with his wife Catherine Melotte. It's the story of two enthusiasts, both dedicated to the search for one-off pieces of design.
Jean-Pierre Bruaire's vocation as a doctor in no way detracted from his other passion, art and design. 129 pieces from his personal collection are on offer in Paris. I became interested in furniture and objets d'art very early on in my studies,’ he confides. It was this curiosity that prompted me to pick up the phone and meet Elisabeth Garouste and Mattia Bonetti, who were beginning to feature quite regularly in the press. A meeting was arranged in their office, and the two designers got on very well with the future cardiologist, who commissioned two pieces from them, a small chest of drawers and a clock.
A little later, Jean-Pierre Bruaire asked the couple to furnish his Paris studio. The designers created the ‘Monaco’ set for him, in wood and wrought iron, the essential elements of which can be found in this catalogue: two sofas estimated at between €4,000 and €6,000, a table (€3,000/4,000), a series of four folding chairs (€1,500/2,000), two bedside tables (€2,000/3,000), a headboard (€4,000/6,000) and a sideboard (€4,000/6,000).
From Garouste and Bonetti to Philippe Starck
The metal parts were made by Pierre Basse, Garouste et Bonetti's long-standing ironmonger, who also worked for Diego Giacometti. From this first experience, Jean-Pierre Bruaire developed a taste for the unique piece, which would remain one of the common threads running through his collection: ‘Buying a work is a very personal thing,’ he explains. Personally, I've always liked the freedom designers have when they're free from the problems of large-scale production. I buy a piece of furniture in the same state of mind as when I choose a drawing’, like Gérard Garouste's gouache on paper, Tal la Rosée, acquired from Galerie Liliane & Michel Durand-Dessert in 1996 (€10,000/15,000).
After years of meeting artists and designers in galleries such as Pierre Staudenmeyer's Néotù, he and his wife Catherine Melotte decided to open the Granville Gallery in Granville on the Normandy coast. The gallery is not just an exhibition space, but also a major publishing house, always producing unique pieces. There have been numerous collaborations with Matali Crasset (Voltige pedestal table, €1,200/1,800), Christian Ghion (Temps dresse clock, €600/900) and Eric Jourdan (Meuble d'entrée, €400/600). Five years later, the couple opened a new space opposite the Montparnasse Tower in Paris, to strengthen their projects in close collaboration with designers and art school students. In addition to the works produced by the gallery - which closed in 2024 - the sale includes some thirty lots by Philippe Starck - which are not unique pieces - also collected by Jean-Pierre Bruaire and Catherine Melotte.
Main image : lot 20, Elizabeth GAROUSTE (born 1949), ‘Orange’ , Covered vase, Stained glass, Created in 2012.
Source : La Gazette Drouot
