Xavier
Mategot

Among the most singular figures in French industrial design of the 1980s, Xavier Mategot stands out as a master of lacquered metal. His formal vocabulary is grounded in the use of raw materials – perforated sheet metal, glass slabs, mechanical jacks – to which he brings a poetic and architectural dimension. Playing with transparency and voids, Xavier Mategot blurs the line between structure and appearance. Metal, far from being a mere support, becomes a fully-fledged sculptural element. Glass, through its visual absence, becomes a subject for contemplation.

His aesthetic draws heavily on the language of engineering: frameworks, bridges, machine components seem transposed into a domestic context. This ongoing reference to construction is reflected in the rigor of the lines, the essential nature of the forms, and the inclusion of exogenous elements: jacks, nautical props, rubber cylinders, disrupting the traditional functional hierarchy of furniture.

Backed by the VIA and winner of the Agora Grant in 1987, Xavier Mategot benefited from significant institutional support in the 1980s, which recognized the originality of his approach. His furniture, published by Christian Farjon, embodies a radically contemporary vision of design, where industrial language becomes a source of aesthetic emotion.

His creations, true engineering sculptures, introduce a new kind of tension into the refined world of collectible furniture. Through their functional strangeness and plastic rigor, they now stand as manifestos of a raw, engaged, and deeply conceptual design philosophy.