Jean-Loup Daraux
By the Light of the Sea
Photographs by Mario Ciampi
The colors and textures and exquisite details captured
in this gorgeous book have inspired me as I’ve worked on
my husband’s study. Love the use of antique hardware
and reclaimed wood. The sonorous quality of deep
natural tones balanced with just the right amount of
color and light…
The artist, sculptor, collector Jean-Loup Daraux writes:
“I mixed contemporary with antique, languid serene colours with
others that were audacious, light refined materials with the raw, wood
and concrete, mosaics and metal. And of course I filled it with objects,
selected for their unlimited poetry.”
Detail of riveted door and antique French bronze watering can…
Jean-Loup again… “I love iron because it lies between the flame and
the anvil, because it comes down to us from the beginning of time”…
and “how can one not be enchanted by the successive repairs
on this very old watering can that I have had for so many years. “
A detail I hadn’t really noticed until I recently found my own little
18th century French watering can (above) …
It reminds me of the French term “belle laide”…literally
“beautiful ugly”. And, as usual, I wonder where it’s been…
You can catch glimpses of his antique watering cans
in several photos…I love homes that give a sense of
the passions of those who live there…
Here’s a larger photo that shows how all the elements are balanced…
the touch of purple…the verdigris of old copper in the cabinet…
the rough with the smooth…
Gorgeous composition of hard lines, strong color,
rough antiquity, Jean-Loup’s modern painting…
Traditional study elements…the ladder, leather club chairs, a trio of
classically moulded bookcases, simple drapery hardware…
Beautifully underscored by the modernity of rough etched
concrete floors, the antiquity of over-sized antique crystal and urn…
In a foreword on Jean-Loup Daraux’s style, Guillaume Tournier writes:
“…to decorate a home is not to “dress” it, but to give it life, to fill it
with dreams and the irreplaceable: humanity, friendship and beauty.”
Of course I’m only scratching the surface of this beautiful book…
Lightly written…it’s a bit like poetry…and I find something new in
it every time I look through it…
