ÉRIC DE DORMAEL
Exploring line, form and the intangibility of light sparks wonder for this French creative.
Exploring line, form and the intangibility of light sparks wonder for this French creative
In an era of statement furniture and lighting as sculptural spectacle, the work Paris designer and artist Éric de Dormael unveils on a rainy morning in a Milan gallery sparkles with a delightful jewel-like intimacy. His handcrafted lighting creations shine with the romance and golden luminosity of a Gustav Klimt painting and, like glimmering bijoux, these particular designs, two cordless table lamps in steel and brass, are small in scale, playful yet precise, fragile yet strong.
Indeed, it was a piece of jewellery — an earring to be exact — carefully crafted by de Dormael in his Paris studio that first captured the imagination of Frédéric Winkler, cofounder of French high-end lighting and furniture maker, DCW Éditions. “When he saw the earring he said, ‘We should do a lamp like this’,” says the quietly spoken de Dormael. And so began a partnership culminating in the 2018 launch of de Dormael’s debut lighting collection for the studio.
“What Frédéric likes about Éric is that he is not a traditional lighting creator,” says Dimitri Lefoulon, DCW Éditions’ product development manager. “He is an object creator. Frédéric likes the challenge of creating lights as art-like objects and Éric is creating something that you never see in the lighting world. So the both of them together make magic.”
De Dormael studied drawing at the esteemed Atelier Met de Penninghen in Paris before working as an architectural model-maker. He was a drawing teacher, photographer and director of his own graphics studio in the advertising industry before he launched a lighting company, Ombre Portée, in 1998 producing limited-edition luminaires.
Today, while the designer still produces bespoke projects for his lighting business, de Dormael mostly chooses to work solo and focus on sculpture — he is represented by Galerie Negropontes in Paris — and his enchanting one-off creations for DCW Éditions. His signature is a distillation of duality and difference, from the cleverly considered interplay of illumination and shadow in his lighting designs to the solidity and strength of the metals he uses countered against the fine-lined fragility of his architecturally inspired forms. He works mostly with bronze, plaster and brass, the latter for its malleable qualities but also its versatility when it comes to absorbing and reflecting light.
Inspiration, says de Dormeal, can occur anytime and usually comes in flashes. One night, he says, he woke up because he was thinking of a concept, something with structure, something architectural and so then he sketches. It’s this act of drawing, of beginning with the purity of line that informs all of de Dormael’s work.
A master of contrasts, the sculptor’s love affair with duality is echoed in his collaborative relationship with Winkler and the team at DCW Éditions. “There’s a lot of interaction between our team and Éric to make sure his designs fit with the latest technology,” says Lefoulon. “We’re taking this unique, really artisanal work, and making it in larger quantities — it’s a skill to maintain the impression of a handcrafted object but actually be able to produce in volume.
“Éric always has new ideas, every day,” says Lefoulon. “He says he should retire but he enjoys making lights with us. We want him to create many things, we love his work… and at the end of the day, he wants to have fun.” ericderdormael.fr; dcw-editions.fr; DCW Éditions is available in Australia at Spence & Lyda; spenceandlyda.com.au