{"id":244468,"date":"2024-12-03T16:24:50","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T21:24:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/?post_type=id_news&p=244468"},"modified":"2024-12-05T12:42:25","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T17:42:25","slug":"uncover-maria-pergays-boundary-pushing-steel-designs","status":"publish","type":"id_news","link":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/designwire\/uncover-maria-pergays-boundary-pushing-steel-designs\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncover Maria Pergay\u2019s Boundary-Pushing Steel Designs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Daybed<\/em> (1968), Low Table<\/em> (1968) and Chaise Suspendue<\/em> (1968) take center stage in this room.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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December 3, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n

Words: <\/span>Osman Can Yerebakan<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photography: <\/span>Courtesy of Demisch Danant and William Jess Laird<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Uncover Maria Pergay\u2019s Boundary-Pushing Steel Designs<\/h1>\n\n\n

“Precious Strength: Maria Pergay Across the Decades” at Demisch Danant is a fittingly titled exhibition<\/a> of the designer’s vast work. The roughly 35 pieces featured in the Greenwich Village gallery storefront include a sweeping potpourri of materials used throughout Pergay’s career, which spanned more than six decades. The Moldova-born designer\u2019s gentle use of steel in conversation with wood, fabrics, and glass yields sculptural and even costume-like furniture pieces with playful accents. Drape Cabinet pieces from 2005, for example, show steel plane surfaces being folded like pieces of clothing to reveal their ebony coating. Dramatic and daring, Ribbon Pouf from the same era shows a steel bench with a large ribbon carving on each end. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exactly a year after her passing at age 93, the show showcases one of the most under-explored female French designers of the 20th century, emphasizing her groundbreaking work in steel and soft materials. \u201cMaria was the Eileen Gray of 1970s although she is not yet considered this way,\u201d says Stephane Danant, gallery cofounder, who first encountered her work with his partner Suzanne Demisch in a design magazine in the early 2000s. The duo pursued Pergay, who was producing work in relative obscurity at the time and agreed to a meeting at a Parisian bar. \u201cShe was surprised to see younger people showing interest to her work,\u201d remembers Danant. Pergay considered the idea of recreating some of her older works for her first show with the gallery in 2006. \u201cWe were against the idea because no one knew Maria at the time,\u201d Danant adds. \u201cTo convince her, we asked her if Yves Saint Laurent would re-create a collection from 1978.\u201d The gallery\u2019s presentation of some of Pergay\u2019s seminal works in Design Miami 2013 revitalized her career, which also coincided with a Fendi collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The owner of a 1960s mainstay steel company, Uginox, even reached out to Pergay as part of their strategy to promote the use of stainless steel in design. \u201cShe told them the material wouldn\u2019t be appropriate for small objects, but she would be willing to use it in furniture,\u201d the dealer adds. Pergay debuted her steel works at Galerie Maison et Jardin in May 1968. \u201cOther designers were starting to use the material in France, but Maria was the only one who exclusively made furniture with steel,\u201d says Danant. He points out her \u201csleek and poetic shapes\u201d in Ring Chair from 1968 or her Flying Carpet daybeds which are not included in this current show. The gallery\u2019s early collaborations with the designer encouraged her to implement new materials in relationship with steel such as mother of pearl and wood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is not a retrospective show,\u201d explains Danant, who aims to \u201csay something about her vocabulary and have it translated\u201d to a new audience. Supported by archival imagery, the show Pergay\u2019s complete commitment to operate in a male-dominated field by working with largely with an industrial material. \u201cShe was designing, producing, marketing, and selling her work,\u201d Danant adds. \u201cPutting Maria into one category would not be accurate\u2014she stands somewhere else as a maker and thinker.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Precious Strength: Maria Pergay Across the Decades<\/em> ran from October 24 – November 30, 2024 at Demisch Danant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Glimpse Highlights From An Exhibition Honoring Maria Pergay<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Precious Strength: Maria Pergay Across the Decades<\/em> at the Demisch Danant.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Furnishings and objects on display in the exhibition.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"room
Daybed<\/em> (1968), Low Table<\/em> (1968) and Chaise Suspendue<\/em> (1968) take center stage in this room.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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This room showcases a few of Maria Pergay’s pieces, like Cabinet<\/em> (1970), Lampe Dragon<\/em> (1974) and Folded Chair, Model 933<\/em> (1975).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Maxime Old’s Set of 4 Armchairs<\/em> (1947) pairs perfectly with Maria Pergay’s Boiserie<\/em> (2006) and Table Arc-en-Ciel<\/em (1975)..<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Pictures from Maria Pergay’s personal collection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Corner of the room showcasing Bronze Tree<\/em> (2013), Fake Door<\/em> (2006) and Pouf Ruban<\/em> (2007).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n