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Lot Essay
A Lyon-based, second-generation cabinet-maker, André Sornay was deeply rooted in his native region and, rather than move to Paris -- a magnet for like-minded avant-garde designers such as Le Corbusier, Charlotte Perriand, Jean Prouvé and Francis Jourdain -- he chose to develop his contemporary designs in his home town, with the hopes of encouraging a local taste for modernity.
Sornay selected materials that could be precious or every-day, and that were frequently innovative - thin plywood, tubular metal, Permatex (an American waterproof fabric not intended for furniture), industrial rubber, Duco lacquer (a spray on product developed by Dupont for the automotive industry), and woods both local and exotic including French and American walnut, ash, oak, rosewood, Macassar ebony as well as Oregon pine, traditionally used for wood paneling. Particularly passionate about wood, Sornay carefully worked the grains and lines to enhance the unadorned forms of his pieces. He also embraced new techniques such as plywood laminations and he patented several furniture-making methods including cloutage, a process of nailing on a veneer, thus creating unique, modestly priced pieces in which the nails themselves became integral to the aesthetics of the objects.
Sornay selected materials that could be precious or every-day, and that were frequently innovative - thin plywood, tubular metal, Permatex (an American waterproof fabric not intended for furniture), industrial rubber, Duco lacquer (a spray on product developed by Dupont for the automotive industry), and woods both local and exotic including French and American walnut, ash, oak, rosewood, Macassar ebony as well as Oregon pine, traditionally used for wood paneling. Particularly passionate about wood, Sornay carefully worked the grains and lines to enhance the unadorned forms of his pieces. He also embraced new techniques such as plywood laminations and he patented several furniture-making methods including cloutage, a process of nailing on a veneer, thus creating unique, modestly priced pieces in which the nails themselves became integral to the aesthetics of the objects.