Le Mur

27 November 2019 Posted by Hiroyuki Namba

Alexander Lamont presents his Le Mur 2019 collection of art for the walls. Seven striking new designs in straw marquetry work with pattern, direction and colour to make subtle trompe l’oeil on vertical surfaces that appear alive with movement and play. The surfaces are subtly reflective and change as light moves over them – or you move around them, also changing their character as the light itself changes from bright mornings to silvery overcast skies to rich evening shadows.

*Soleil – The inspiration comes from sun shining through a lattice.*

Straw marquetry is the art of preparing rye straw to form gleaming finished ribbons in an array of colours and inlaying them piece by piece onto a panel or surface to form a pattern. Alexander Lamont’s workshops employ a team of over 30 artisans working on straw marquetry projects, new techniques and designs to take this traditional process forward into new refined and contemporary directions.

*Drift I – A surface of lines that rises, swells and falls like the wake of a ship.*

*Drift II – Wisteria straw applied in vibrant tonal harmony.*

*Tashi I – Inspired by the traditional textiles of the Himalayas*

*Tashi II – Wisteria straw carefully inlaid in different hues and tones.*

*Pierrot – A dancing arrangement of musical whimsy and silent mime*

The 2019 collection introduces gesso as a new material added to our Classic Collection. Gesso is a material first used in medieval Europe as a surface for painting and gilding over wood before applying expensive gold leaf and natural pigments onto religious art. Alexander Lamont has taken this ancient white material as a luminous surface in its own right. By applying it onto canvas and then lifting, cracking, scoring and carving the surface and burnishing it by hand, we make walls that gleam like polished ivory or create tactile elegance through filigree-fine craquelure.

*Tryst II – Inspired by the mosaics and tiles of ancient Rome*

*Grove – Tall bamboo-like spires in varying tones interwoven with fine polychrome details.*

*Stepping Stones – A trompe l’oeil of three-dimensional repeating plains.*

The Le Mur collection for walls infuses spaces with exquisite handwork, texture and dimensionality. With this collection Alexander Lamont brings vertical surfaces to life with precious shagreen, hand-cracked and burnished gesso and straw marquetry. We control every square inch in Alexander Lamont’s own workshops, from preparing the raw material, to dyeing and applying the material onto wall panels using techniques developed in-house. The finished works uncompromisingly push the boundaries of rare and hard-won traditions and maintain exquisite quality, while bringing contemporary, fresh ideas to long-adored materials.