PARIS — For Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance, working with glass is like draping cloth for a fashion designer.
For his latest collaboration with Dior, to be unveiled at Salone del Mobile.Milano, or Milan Design Week, the French designer delved into the fashion house’s archives and endeavored to translate fabric patterns and textures into light.
He has revisited his Corolle lamp, originally launched in 2019 and inspired by the full skirt of founder Christian Dior’s signature New Look, with new versions that harness the irregular beauty of handmade Venetian glass.
The glass bells come in 11 different patterns, casting ripples of light, concentric swirls or geometric patterns, in the case of light fixtures with bamboo casings woven into the brand’s signature cannage motif.
“The glass becomes a medium, a surface that transforms matter and creates interactions with light,” Duchaufour-Lawrance said in a video interview from his home near Lisbon. “That’s really the key idea. You sculpt the light, and in a way, the light becomes material itself — just as important as the glass.”
A Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance Corolle lamp design for Dior.
Eduard Sanchez-Ribot/Courtesy of Dior
A total of 27 new references will be presented at Palazzo Landriani in Milan from Tuesday to April 26. Priced from 2,300 euros, the lamps will be available in four sizes, including table lamps and portable versions.
Duchaufour-Lawrance is known for his textural approach, whether engaging with wood, metal, ceramic or glass.
He’s created furniture for renowned Italian companies such as Zanotta, Tacchini and Ceccotti, and objects including a full collection of crystalware for historic French glass manufacturer Saint-Louis.
Among his interior design projects are the London restaurant Sketch, the Air France business lounge at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, and Montblanc boutiques worldwide.
But since moving to Portugal in 2017, his main focus has been his project Made in Situ, a laboratory for exploring local crafts and skills, whether Barro Negro pottery from the Tondela region, or bronze candleholders produced by a foundry for boat propellers in the seaside town of Peniche.
Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance’s Corolle lamp designs for Dior.
Eduard Sanchez-Ribot/Courtesy of Dior
Made in Situ will be the subject of a comprehensive exhibition in October at the Galerie des Gobelins in Paris, to be accompanied by a book.
“My work is often inspired by nature, but more than that, it’s really about what connects us, and what binds us to where we live,” Duchaufour-Lawrance said. “Ultimately, I’m always searching for a kind of balance in my work. I think Dior approached his in a similar way.”
When he initially designed the Corolle lamp in 2019, his ambition was to establish a common language with the French fashion house through a simple shape that mirrored Christian Dior’s architectural approach to design.
“What I try to do as a designer is find that balance, to ensure an object stays clear and easy to connect with, but at the same time sparks curiosity,” Duchaufour-Lawrance explained.
“And, of course, it also needs to bring a sense of pleasure, or at least contemplation — something that lets you step back a little and move beyond just a direct, functional relationship with the object,” he added.
The making of a Dior Corolle Lamp.
Max Cornwall/Courtesy of Dior
For the second chapter of the project, he wanted to push the craftsmanship further by going deeper into surface treatments.
“We worked with the archives, looking for textures, materials and effects that I could reinterpret in the collection, always rooted in the house’s origins and its history. From there, we tried to find the glassmaking techniques to match,” he recounted.
While the glass bells were made in Murano, Italy, the madake bamboo basket-weaving was entirely done in Kyoto, Japan. The cannage pattern was also chiseled into glass.
“We explored different engraving techniques, as well as glass pleating, which involves using ridged molds and then creating a wave effect by twisting the glass while blowing it,” he said.
“There’s also the sandblasted version, which is the simplest, and mano volante, which is a special technique where you shape the glass while it’s still hot, just out of the mold, to create this effect as if wind were moving through the object, like it might stir a skirt,” Duchaufour-Lawrance continued.
Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance’s Corolle lamp designs for Dior.
Eduard Sanchez-Ribot/Courtesy of Dior
Filigree effects were used to mimic the texture of tulle or lace. “There’s often a very natural link with textiles, even though the materials themselves are completely different,” he noted.
As with all his recent projects, the hand of the artisan is key.
“It all relies on a very precise, delicate relationship with the craftspeople, to find that balance — again — between a drawing, an intention and the final product. It’s also about drawing on their know-how to push the object somewhere new,” he said.
“In that respect, design and couture are very closely connected — we rely on craftsmanship to create. This project simply wouldn’t have been possible without the artisans and the range of skills behind it. I couldn’t have invented the techniques involved here; these are things that have been mastered and passed down for generations,” he added.
A Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance Corolle lamp design for Dior.
Eduard Sanchez-Ribot/Courtesy of Dior
Duchaufour-Lawrance said he’s curious to explore how clothing textures could translate into other materials, too.
“I found the dresses extremely inspiring, in terms of texture and transparency, but also simply because of the way they move,” he said. “At one point, I started sketching a side project — a series of objects that attempt to freeze that movement, using different materials. That’s something I’d be interested to pursue.”
