Paris Design Week: "Day Bed" by Collectif Uchronia

To mark Paris Design Week and the European Heritage Days, the Uchronia collective is presenting a monumental installation in the monument's Cour d'Honneur.

In homage to the beds in the Apartments of the Intendants of the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne at the Hôtel de la Marine, the Uchronia Universe is presenting an XXL bed specially created for Paris Design Week. In the centre of the Cour d'Honneur, the bed rises like an acropolis, surrounded by large steps that magnify the structure.

With this work, Univers Uchronia reinterprets the traditional elements of four-poster beds and French beds, integrating them into a contemporary setting, transforming the furniture into a veritable public stage. A celebration of history, design and innovation, this installation transforms the Cour d'Honneur into a space where past and present meet, where historic furniture is reinvented in a contemporary and monumental form, offering visitors an experience that is both immersive and contemplative.

The installation is characterised by contrasting materials. The trimmings and cushions arranged around the structure interact with the ceramic tiles by the Dutch brand Palet. While the drapery evokes the comfort of a bedroom, the brilliance of the tiles recalls the decor of historic bathrooms. The carefully chosen ceramics create a fascinating play of light, highlighting the material and details of the bed.

The colour palette of the installation is rich and vivid, recalling the tones of the decor of the eighteenth-century flats of the Hôtel de la Marine. These include the bright red of the bedroom of the intendant Pierre-Élisabeth de Fontanieu and the turquoise blue of the physics cabinet. These chromatic choices enrich the whole by creating visual links with the historic spaces, while adding a bold modern touch.

A multidisciplinary collective rather than a traditional architectural practice, Uchronia takes its name from a reflection on fictional time and the ephemeral. The studio creates modern "places of experience", removing the barriers to creativity. It transforms spaces by offering a complete artistic presentation, from architecture and layout to design and visual identity. From restaurants and flats to fashion shows, the spaces designed by Uchronia take on a unique, contemporary identity.

Univers Uchronia is a line of self-published furniture by the Uchronia collective, comprising a series of original pieces with curved, colourful shapes. The collection promotes a singular aesthetic, but also aims to highlight French know-how and arts and crafts. Unearthed, updated and sometimes challenged by the imagination, Univers Uchronia finds in these creations a new, more modern and more pop expression of the material. From stucco-marble and raku to coatings and resins, each technique shines through on all the furniture. Each technique and each combination gives rise to the origin of a piece. The pieces are made exclusively in France.