Elizabeth Garouste

Elizabeth Garouste studied interior architecture at the École Camondo, Paris. She designed stage sets and costumes for Jean-Michel Ribes and worked in the fashion business before partnering with Bonetti in 1981. After joining David Gill Galleries in 1988, Garouste & Bonetti designed a series of impressive collections – showing a creative vision that was surprising and magnificent. In 1991 they were named Designers of the Year at the International Furniture Fair.

Celebrated for inventing a new romanticism, the Paris-based design duo Garouste & Bonetti became recognized as international players in the art/design market from the 1980s to the late 90s. Their furniture is extraordinarily inventive, unconventional and quirky but with grandeur, wit and a subtle brilliance.

There is a history of furniture woven into their designs, but they remain uniquely avant-garde – revolutionary in their disregard for many of the leading principles of 20th century decorative arts.

In an interview they likened their studio to a laboratory of Haute Couture: ‘Our hope is to give people the feeling of freedom in the choice of forms. Good taste really bothers us a lot. What we care about is implanting doubt. We don’t have any rules.’

Their most memorable works have a dazzling, fanciful aspect – surreal and a bit eccentric, but whimsically so. For all this, they have remained ardently dedicated to craftsmanship.