Interview with Martin Szekely
The latest entrant to the Tectona catalogue is a design legend: Martin Szekely, who joins Pierre Charpin, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Constance Guisset, BIG-GAME, Christophe Delcourt and Inga Sempé. Szekely is the creator behind the legendary Pi collection of the 1980s, the Perrier glass and also bespoke pieces of furniture made from advanced materials for collectors. With Tectona, Szekely returned to his first profession, cabinetmaking, combining traditional craftsmanship with computerised numerical control (CNC) to create Soleil, a collection in larch consisting of a low armchair, an ottoman and a coffee table.
This project is also a return to your roots in the sense that you acquired early experience in cabinetmaking. Did this background lead you to take a more hands-on approach at the fabrication stage?
Indeed, I started making a living in a cabinetmaking workshop and this first exposure would hold me in good stead in the future when interacting with people who build: we have a common language and practices. My contribution to the fabrication of Soleil was the furniture drawings I drafted with assistance from Jean Yves Grandfils, cabinetmaker and recipient of the Meilleur Ouvrier de France award.
The fabrication of Soleil involves craftech, a portmanteau coined to describe a way of working that combines traditional know-how with CNC. It would not have been possible to mass-produce Soleil without CNC, even at very low volumes.
Materials also play an essential role in your work. Tectona works with exotic woods and local woods. How did you choose which wood to use?
With Tectona, we decided from the outset that the project would use a wood derived from a local forest and manufactured by a French enterprise. That’s why we chose locally grown larch, a rot-proof wood that turns grey-silver when it comes into contact with water.
Essentially, the sun is the fundamental reason for outdoor furniture. So Soleil was the most logical name to give to this collection.
What body position would you like to suggest for this armchair? The inclined backrest is suitable for what activities?
The armchair can be used in several different ways and suggest several different body positions. It’s usually bodies, in all their diversity, that adapt to the object rather than the inverse. You only need to consider how effortlessly we adapt to sitting on a rock or at the foot of a tree.
What does this collection represent in your trajectory? What achievement does it represent?
I agreed to take on this project shortly after I’d started using my own garden and I’ll be adding Soleil to it soon! On a more serious note, isn’t it incredible to produce designer furniture inside a French enterprise in direct contact with its clientele, without an intermediary?
