Amélie Chappedelaine, Project Manager at Rinck, tells us about the work carried out by our millwork workshop on the collaborative showroom the Palm Beach Atelier.
Amboyna burl and verre églomisé
Pictures © WILDE PHOTOGRAPHY
What was the starting point for this private showroom project in Palm Beach?
This project started when we decided we wanted to create a collaborative space to showcase various forms of savoir-faire, both our own at Rinck, as an ensemblier décorateur, and those of the other professions around us. Sarah Magness, who was the catalyst for this fantastic undertaking, gave carte blanche to all of us – everyone who partnered on this space – to come up with an ensemble that vividly demonstrated the specialized work of all our companies. So we designed a space that is not only practical – because this workshop is meant to receive our clients, colleagues, and employees – but also representative of the broad range of savoir-faire we all possess.
How were Rinck’s portions created, especially the central boiserie?
We came up with a boiserie creation that’s both technical and visually striking, freely inspired by Art-Deco style, involving a combination of Amboyna burl boiserie, a wall covering developed for our collection with Fromental, lacquer work, decorative metalwork, and a mirror in verre églomisé. A variety of finishes: shiny, deep, refined.
Were there any particularly technical aspects to producing this original creation?
Burl veneer is always challenging to accomplish: It demands great care on the parts of the cabinetmaker and the varnisher. First and foremost, the layout work: selecting the sheets and assembling them. Choosing the richest pattern. We found exceptional sheets to do this, but once the layout was determined, we still did some grafting work to enhance them. What makes this work so technical is achieving overall harmony across the entire piece. The sheets are custom-knit in the workshop, bookmatch-assembled, then pressed onto panels, which are then precisely worked and machined by hand to shape the whole ensemble. Each piece is given the finish chosen by a specialized craftsperson – varnish, wallpaper, or glossy lacquer – so that everything is ultimately reassembled in final form for an overall view of the completed ensemble, before being packaged and crated.
How was the boiserie installed?
After crossing land and sea, from France to the tip of the East Coast of the United States, the carpenters were able to reassemble and install our creation, adjusting and attending to every detail based on the physical constraints of the room being converted into the showroom. Each piece fit into place, perfectly adapted to the space. Then we added the finishing touch to really bring it to life: a set of curtains and rods from the Rinck collection developed with Thevenon.
Daybed
€14,000.00
Amarante Desk
€18,000.00
Furstenberg Bench
€12,660.00
Liquor Cabinet
€38,000.00
Floor lamp
€14,000.00
Savoir-Faire
Our company – boasting its own production workshops and approaching its second century of operations – brings together many skills specific to French decorative arts. Be it our boiserie and interior design workshops, our furniture and bronze workshops, or our design offices, more than a dozen forms of savoir-faire are expertly practiced at our three sites, each having its own venerable history, a legacy that is further enriched as it is taught by one generation to the next.
They are complementary, often complex, traditional, or innovative, and combine the nobility of handcraftsmanship and the perfection of age-old techniques with digital precision and other new practices born of technological advancements. Their uses are dedicated to the making of exceptional pieces and are mastered by women and men who, with passion and respect, transform the material into something even greater than itself and bring to life all the interiors imagined by our designers and executed for our trusting clients.
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