In His First New York Solo Show, Designer Ferréol Babin Brings the French Countryside to the States

For French artist and designer Ferréol Babin, using his Japanese woodworking hand tools has become “almost like an addiction.” Babin’s first New York solo show, "In a Landscape," opening March 6 at Friedman Benda, is the happy result: a collection of fourteen sculptural furnishings, from lighting to benches to cabinets, all hand-carved from oak and ash trees he sources in the forests adjacent to his home and workshop in the western French countryside. Some of the pieces feature paintings of
landscapes inspired by his studio views; others are inlaid with tiles he makes mixing Normandy clay with the crushed granite he dug up to set his home’s foundation; all are delicately dimpled and then effortlessly smoothed, adding delightful dimension to the visible grain and occasional knots of their simple geometries.

Schooled in architecture in France and Japan, Babin soon found that crafting smaller objects was more his speed and began his career designing lamps. When the pace of industrial design—and the lack of visible handiwork—left him wanting, he turned to craft, learning woodworking from books and internet tutorials. The self-taught practice started with spoons, but his growth to furniture is welcome. In a way, it’s a full circle moment. “It has pushed me back toward working with space itself, or the way light interacts with my carving,” says the designer, who is currently building a new, larger home and studio in the northwest of France, near the borders of Germany and Switzerland. Its size will allow him to scale up his next collection even more and continue to satisfy an ever-present occupation with space. For now, U.S. viewers will get a taste of his current country home through the exhibition’s ladder-back seats perched with whimsical birds, tuft-topped bench, and pond-ripple coffee table, all of which toe a poetic line between art and function.