Re-Imagining Houseware

According to Le Corbusier, there are five core principles of modern architecture: horizontal windows, roof gardens, open façade, free design of the ground plan, and pilotis, or “piers.” It’s no accident that Puiforcat's latest release shares the same name as one of the Swiss-French architect’s design demands. The six-piece collection, Pilotis, features a series of three candlesticks and three candelabras, and was designed in collaboration with London-based design studio Barber Osgerby.

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A sleek, silver base grounds each candelabra by the luxury Parisian silversmith. A thin stilt of rectangular silver climbs upwards and disappears depending on the viewing angle. Modular angles clash with the spherical base, with stilts that resemble the reinforced concrete columns of Villa Savoye, the innovative and iconic structure designed and built in 1931 by Le Corbusier in Poissy, France. When lit, flickering light from the flame permeates the atmosphere, and the melting wax is striking against the candelabra’s geometric structure. 

With backgrounds in architecture, designers Jay Osgerby and Edward Barber fully dedicated themselves to infusing the Art Deco identity into this collection, overseen by Jean Puiforcat, legendary silversmith and co-founder of the Puiforcat brand. Since the foundation of their studio, Barber Osgerby, in 1996 and Universal Design Studio in 2001—recognized as one of the most innovative design consultancies in the world—the duo have proved themselves masters of their craft with permanent collections in global institutions like New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Puiforcat’s Pilotis, packs the forward-thinking, structural liberty that Le Corbusier purported into a candle and brings it to the table.