Madame Butterfly, Le Voyage immobile by Emilie Bonaventure at Galerie Vauclair, from September 7 to September 16, 2023, for Paris Design Week

It all began with a carte blanche, with no reservations other than the Galerie Vauclair’s overflowing history. Émilie Bonaventure brings Laurence and Denis Vauclair-Rouquette her vision of a 19th century of passionate hues: she imagines “Mme Butterfly – Le Voyage immobile”. Japan is at the heart of this creation. From a last-century opera recounting the love of a geisha for an American passing through, to an illicit and secret connotation for Émilie, or an intimate and familial one for Laurence, everyone takes a stroll according to their own reference points. Although 19th-century Japanese artists never traveled to this faraway land, “human dramas are universal” (G. Puccini, author of Madame Butterfly) and dreams open the doors.

The decorator-scenographer selects the noblest materials to serve as backdrops for her imaginary scenarios. Galerie Vauclair’s furniture pieces, composed of gilded lacquer and ordered bamboo, recount the golden age of prestigious craftsmanship. The taut fabrics become a showcase for this daring freedom, muffling the whisper of social gatherings in a discreet boudoir or opium den. The choice of these pieces transports us into Émilie’s singular universe, revealing the artists she cherished: Max Claudet, Ernest Chaplet, veritable ceramist-artists, with, as a counterpoint, the photographic work of Françoise Huguier, photographer and gleaner of objects, obsessed by light and its gentle connection with cinema.