Creative Mind: Jallu Ébénistes
The Breton-based studio crafts exquisite furnishings with exceptional materials like pyrite and horn, as well as spectacular examples of straw marquetry
It was the Roxy cabinet, with its glamorous sunburst of selenite shapes encircling a dramatic brass handle, that launched Breton-based Jallu Ébénistes onto the global stage. Art director Sandra Scolnik-Jallu and her husband, Yann Jallu, a master ébéniste and a member of France’s esteemed Compagnons du Devoir, created the striking Art Deco–inspired piece for the biennial design fair Révélations in Paris in 2013.
“That was really the first time that people started to see us as more than just a workroom,” says Scolnik-Jallu. Since that debut, the atelier has crafted bespoke case goods, tables, and more using richly colored straw marquetry, pyrite, horn, and luminescent panels of mica for clients such as Chaumet, Cartier, Dior, and Lalique.
Artful inspiration: “I was at the Edvard Munch show at the Musée d’Orsay and the text on the walls explained how he would rework the same images and themes, and I thought, I approach design like a painter,” says Scolnik-Jallu. “We make a cabinet, and if I’m not 100 percent satisfied, we’ll make another one and I’ll just keep moving the ideas forward.”
Creative process: “I really love the collaboration,” Scolnik-Jallu says of working with studio artisans on new pieces that will debut at PAD Paris. “You have to be able to put your ego on the side and get into the process of creating. It’s like magic.”
A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2022 Spring Issue under the headline “Creative Minds.” Subscribe to the magazine.