If you adore Richard Neutra, Finn Juhl, Gio Ponti, Jean Royer or Vladimir Kagan the you PONCE BERGA will make your modernist heart beat a little bit faster.
The West Palm Beach based design gallery was established in 2017 and focuses on historical 20th century design from Scandinavia, the United States, Italy and France. The shop is perfectly curated and makes it so easy to make the right shopping decisions if you are planing on investing in design objects that never get out of fashion.
Raf Simons on Design “Icon” Jean Royère
The fashion designer delights in Royère’s ability to be feminine and playful.
I’m very inspired by Jean Royère—I’m obsessed almost. For me, he is an icon and an example, because the design world is a male-dominated environment but he dared to be very feminine. I really dug deep into the history of Jean Royère. He was incredible: unique in his form language, in his materialization, in his coloration, in his proposal of total living.
Besides making furniture (Sculpture armchairs shown above, ca. 1960), he had incredible ideas for curtains and room dividers and lighting. I think he was very daring to be so feminine and playful, but completely unique and innovative in form language in the midst of a very male-dominated, industrialized design environment. You had Prouvé, Le Corbusier, Perriand, and all those people—they were very industrial—and then there was Royère sitting in the middle of it with something completely different.
First up is his Polar bear sofa and chairs. Introduced c. 1949, a Polar Bear set including a sofa and pair of chairs. Despite the name, the Polar Bear, or “L’Ours Polaire” collection came in many bright colors in addition to white, like orange model in the first photo.