Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1546312
In the vestibule of Féau Boiseries headquarters in Paris, the elaborate hand- carved Etruscan-style rooms are custom reinterpretations of the original 18th-century neoclassical decor designed for Napoleon by architects Charles Perrier and Pierre- François-Leonard Fontaine. In the lobby of Féau Boiseries in Paris, carved wall paneling reflects the original Four Continents carving designed in the early 19th century by Claude- Nicolas Ledoux. F ragments from Napoleon's office are tucked into the archive at Féau Boiseries, the 1875 Paris firm known for salvaging and replicating centuries-old wood paneling. And that's just one of the rarities waiting at its Rive Droite ateliers, home to the world's largest collection of antique decorative paneling. Féau Boiseries has also acquired antique panels and other architectural elements by legendary French designers Jansen and Emilio Terry, and hundreds of samples created for Alberto Pinto, Madeleine Castaing, Jacques- Émile Ruhlmann, and Jean-Michel Frank. Among the rarities: a suite of panels and doors that Frank designed in 1929 for Princess Winnaretta de Polignac's Paris music room — an extraordinary feat of straw marquetry at architectural scale that Féau jointly owns with Galerie Jacques Lacoste. Among the archive's other storied elements: rooms made for Madame de Pompadour and a fantastical set of chinoiserie panels crafted for an 18th-century Parisian library. Over the years, Féau Boiseries has worked with leading designers such as Jacques Garcia, Jean- Louis Deniot, and Michael S. Smith. For Karl Lagerfeld's redo of the Hôtel de Crillon's Presidential Suite, Chanel's own workshops built a 1:10 scale model of the room — at double the usual model height — so Lagerfeld could study the carved detail before a single panel was cut. Last spring, Féau Boiseries made its transatlantic debut, opening its first U.S. showroom in New York City's D&D Building, with a focus on reproduction panels and moldings spanning the 17th century to the Art Deco era. The company's gilded panels have graced the interiors of influential patrons and industrial titans Henry Frick, Henry Ford, and the Getty family — and, more recently, Michael S. Smith, who called on Féau for his own 740 Park Avenue apartment. There, the firm reproduced its full range for a single client: a straw-marquetry scheme in the spirit of Jean-Michel Frank, a Louis XVI dining room modeled on an 18th-century Claude-Nicolas Ledoux boiserie, and a cornice copied from Christian Dior's Avenue Montaigne salons. Guillaume Féau, a third-generation steward of the company, and his sister, Angélique Féau-Leborgne, lead the firm today. feauboiseries.com/en. FÉAU BOISERIES' By Rebecca Sherman.