MATTIA BONETTI (born 1952) is a Paris-based artist and designer. His work has been called whimsical, surreal and unique. Consistently merging the boundaries between art and design, Bonetti, who was born in Lugano, Switzerland, initially studied textile design at the Centro Scolastico per l’Industria Artistica. Moving to Paris in 1972, Bonetti initially worked within his chosen field of textile design, but then developed a career as a stylist and photographer. Working in black and white film, Bonetti would shoot miniature interiors that he had made by hand, which in turn led to his love of furniture. Bonetti’s work has always begun with a free-hand sketch, which is then fabricated in materials including patinated bronze, gilding, acrylic, wood, rock crystal, marble, glass and gemstones. In the 1970s Bonetti met the designer Elizabeth Garouste, and their partnership began with the interior décor of the famous Parisian nightclub Le Palace and restaurant Le Privilege. Employing a neo-Baroque language, blended with prehistoric and primitive touches, Bonetti’s terracotta masks were labelled “Barbarian design.” The pair set the pace for cutting edge Parisian design, creating a unique and inventive neo-Baroque language that was to become synonymous with themost sophisticated continental contemporary interior and furniture design. In 1987 Garouste and Bonetti began work with Christian Lacroix on his couture house interior. Employing cushions and curtains in ochre with rococo swishes of black, French 18th Century chairs were upholstered in electric blue, lilac, orange and raspberry. Hot-red consoles were given branches for legs and stools were designed to DISCOVER MORE