After sparking a connection in Paris, Maison Intègre founder Ambre Jarno asked Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance to collaborate on what would become the Ouagadougou-based workshop’s first full collection. The designer and Made In Situ founder immediately flashed back to the Y-shaped ladders he spotted while visiting Mali’s Bandiagara cliffs, which prompted Jarno to invite him on a journey through Burkina Faso—her former home, and a place where the threat of terrorism looms over the country’s rich craft traditions—to create pieces in bronze using local techniques.
The resulting collection of six sculptural pieces, on view at Les Ateliers Courbet in New York until July 26, arises from Duchaufour-Lawrance’s lost wax experiments with West African master craftsmen. “The idea of using only one material really spoke to me,” he says, noting how the purity of the Y-shaped ladders inspired a sculptural floor lamp. “It’s a special shape mostly because of its fragility: There’s only one leg, but the two arms facing upward and leaning against a surface make it extremely stable.” Also on view: The oblong shapes of Gurunsi architecture inform a series of side tables, while the Palabre Chair mimics its namesake object and a group of sconces pay tribute to the richness of African masks.
