Pierre Augustin Rose’s Latest Saint Germain Collection is Designed for Lingering

An antiques-informed producer of contemporary furnishings and decor, Pierre Augustin Rose champions the use of age-old artisanal traditions in unconventional applications. Co-founders Augustin Deleuze and Pierre Bénard honed their savoir-faire in the hallowed halls of Paris’ Marché aux puces and other comparable venues. It was their third partner, Nina Rose, that shrewdly suggested they translate that know-how into limited-run contemporary furnishings; pulling from the past to better place the present.

One way they’ve accomplished this harmonious orchestration is in the deft repurposing of woven tapestry—namely from the long-established, UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list Aubusson ateliers, in operation since the 14th century. Pierre Augustin Rose launched a first comprehensive collection—collaging together carefully selected fragments of the richly pictorial fabric in clever, narrative compositions—within its grand Lower Manhattan showroom last fall. The gallery also maintains uniquely sited spaces on the Right and Left Banks of the Seine in Paris. The latter inspired a second iteration of furnishings that harnesses this surprisingly abundant source of material but in a new way.

Unveiled at the Paris edition of the design fair PAD (April 8–12), the Saint Germain collection comprises a generously plush yet restrained, contoured three-part sofa and accompanying armchair. The capsule offers nods to the neighborhood’s bohemian yet still somewhat affluent sense of “cultivated domesticity.”

While most of the repurposed textiles have a pointillist quality, each backrest cushion is emblazoned with an embroidered animal figure. In the first collection, one could find these distinctive elements mysteriously hidden around the back of a sloping settee. In this second offering, they’ve taken pride of place. The background of multi-toned brushmarks, falling into a unifying field of near-ombré golden brown imbues the designs with depth and grounding.

The oversized sofa and armchair cut almost child-like figures but in a far more urbane than overtly impish fashion. Elegant nuance and heft play well together. Subtly scalloped backrests blend into oversized cylindrical armrests. The dimensional deep and deeply padded seats extend past these armatures, further than most, incentivizing their users to stay longer, and linger.