What the work is
Andrée Putman founded Ecart International in Paris in 1978. Its early programme returned furniture and objects by earlier twentieth-century designers to production, including work by Eileen Gray, Jean-Michel Frank and Pierre Chareau.
Ecart’s own history places the founding at 6 rue Pavée, in a showroom set up in a former warehouse. It says the mission was to reissue furniture and objects by early twentieth-century creators, many of whom had been largely forgotten, and that the company positioned itself as a pioneer in what it called an “archaeology of modernity.” By its account, the revived names also included Mariano Fortuny, Robert Mallet-Stevens, Michel Dufet and Jacques-Henri Lartigue. Ecart presents this taste as running against the dominant aesthetics of the 1980s, which it characterises by the Memphis Group and Starck’s minimalism.
How it was made
Ecart describes a process of archival research, selection and examination of historical pieces. Colette Bel joined the development of the reissues; the catalogue later included contemporary creators and the company’s own studio work.
According to Ecart, Putman selected furniture, lamps, rugs and objects from period reviews and antique dealers, guided by what it calls extensive archival research. Each piece was analysed in detail to understand its mechanisms and functions, so that it could be revitalised for contemporary use. Colette Bel took charge of editorial direction and oversaw development of the reissues. As the catalogue grew, Putman added contemporary creators including Sacha Ketoff, Olivier Gagnère, Naggar and Lachevsky, Sylvain Dubuisson and Martin Szekely. The company also developed an in-house creative studio that designed original pieces.
What works
The catalogue itself becomes a designed relationship among objects. Selection and presentation can make neglected work available to a new audience without requiring that the curator claim to have designed the originals.
What does not
Reissue is not the same as an original-period object. Dates, authorship and edition details remain essential, and visual similarity does not establish that every material or production method is unchanged.
What it influenced
Ecart’s history connects Putman’s work to the recovery and circulation of modern furniture. The achievement includes mediation between archives, makers and buyers, rather than only the creation of new shapes.
The company grew beyond the catalogue. Ecart says an interior design agency, also called Ecart, was created, and that Putman assembled a small team including Jean-François Bodin to answer interior design requests from the fashion world. Bruno Moinard joined during the Thierry Mugler boutique project at Place des Victoires. Ecart also notes that its name is an anagram of “Trace,” and that its Jean-Michel Frank collection has been part of the catalogue since the 1980s.
Is it worth your time
Worth studying for the ethics and practical work of revival. Compare an original record with a reissue’s specification, credit both the designer and the edition, and ask what research supports the claimed continuity.
