Incollect Magazine - Issue 15

Incollect Magazine 69 or more than two decades, Cathy Lerebours built her Manhattan gallery on a deep knowledge of design and a passion for French antiques. She curated an exceptional inventory of Louis XVI commodes, parquetry furniture, mid-century French cabinets, Italian mirrors, and finely made historical objects. She established her reputation among interior designers seeking furniture with history, character, and exceptional workmanship. Eventually, the gallery also introduced Lerebours Bespoke, a collection of plaster lighting fixtures and furnishings inspired by great 20th-century European designers Jean-Michel Frank and Paul Duprè-Lafon. Today, the gallery has a new name, a new website, and a broader vision. Galerie Lerebours now represents a carefully selected group of contemporary designers alongside eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century furniture, reflecting the changing tastes of collectors while remaining rooted in the traditions that first defined the business. The shift is less a change of direction than an expansion of it. “I’ll never stop buying antiques and vintage pieces,” Lerebours says. “They feed my soul. They don’t sell as quickly as contemporary work anymore, but I love how walking through my gallery is like taking a trip through eras of design.” That philosophy explains the gallery’s recent rebranding. Like many dealers, Lerebours has watched the market for traditional furniture soften as collectors gravitate toward collectible design and limited-edition contemporary work. In response, she has sought out contemporary makers whose work shares the balance, restraint, and attention to detail she has always admired in historical furniture. “I still buy vintage whenever I’m in France,” she says. “Every time I find a classic Louis XV chest or a wonderful vintage 1940s cabinet, I buy it. But these days I am rushing between artist studios as well.” A walk through her Upper East Side gallery makes her approach immediately apparent. A rectilinear French cabinet from the 1940s stands beside a monumental oak sideboard whose clean geometry anticipates contemporary minimalism. Nearby is a 19th-century parquetry commode, an elegant Italian enamel mirror from the Left: Another stunning vignette; a study in whites. From Ateliers Vallin Avignant, the “One” Plaster 3-Door Sideboard with sinuous hand-carved plaster detail and crimson lacquer interior with shelves. French bespoke Limoges porcelain “Anemone” Mirror with gold-leaf mirror and “Anemone” Table Lamps by Dora Stanczel. The final touch: a luxuriously decadent and dramatic French bespoke bronze “Les Fleurs du Mal” Candelabra pair by Alina Alamorean. Upper right: The spectacularly sculptural hand-woven metal Constellation Chandelier by Philippe Montels. Photo: Mike Vitelli Lower right: Light reflects and diffuses across the organic, fluid surfaces of Atelier Victor Tison’s bespoke brass Bobi Chair, bringing a sensory and sculptural dimension to the creation. Handcrafted in hammered, bent, rolled, and sculpted brass. Photo: Clement Pinaut.