Delisle designs high-quality lights, as well as furniture and decorative objects. Thanks to its collection of historical archives referencing over 4,000 models and 12,000 drawings, dating back over 120 years, the group has continued to perpetuate French savoir-faire by reinventing tradition and expertise since 1895. Each object, meticulously designed and crafted in its studios in Montreuil, is the fruit of an ensemble of skills specific to each artisan. A member of the Comité Colbert* since 1985, the Maison Delisle holds the EPV Living Heritage Label since 2006. A selection of Delisle creations can be seen in their Parisian showroom situated in the Marais at number 4, Rue du Parc Royal, Paris (third arrondissement).

ELLIOTT BARNES FOR THE MAISON DELISLE

Sometimes in a certain setting, or during an exchange between aficionados, the notion of a collection becomes obvious. And so begins the story of Poinciana. There were meetings in a tucked away mansion house in the Marais quarter of Paris, whose walls had witnessed the evolution of the Maison Delisle, “bronzier d’art” for five generations. There were visits to their workshop, near the capital, where the best artisans of France continue to practice the secrets of a craft still sought out today. And there was the sharp look of a designer, with other cultural references from a place far away, who was enthralled by the enthusiasm of Jean Delisle, head of this great “Maison” that pursues timelessness through objects that refer to the past, breathe the present, in order to exist in the future. But, it was ultimately, through the personal contact with the carvers, the draftsmen, and the assemblers, gathered in the workshops of Montreuil, that the structure and the idea of the collection was born. By extracting the form of the wooden handles that sink into the craftsmen’s palms, from the punches and rasps used to form metal, stone or leather, Elliott Barnes, a Franco-American architect, saw the major notes needed to create objects that would illuminate and configure spaces. An experienced Jazz lover, he used improvisation, like the great pianist Ahmad Jamal, to give a different character to this small wooden form so that it became a luminous element in alabaster. Held in levitation by a burned bronze frame, hammered or patinaed, the collection also offers a limited series of designs sheathed in leather. This new arrangement has allowed Elliott Barnes to extend The Poinciana Collection to include chandeliers, pendant lights, sconces, floor lamps, table lamps and side tables. A collection of fixtures realized in collaboration with the Maison Delisle who, each year, invites a designer to develop a contemporary collection in their ateliers.