The Dramatist: Jean de Merry

by Donna Sapolin

Jean de Merry is a storyteller. Lyrical words were once his medium but now it is new Art Deco-inspired furnishings that spark the imaginations of onlookers with unspoken sagas about people and homes and both the quotidian and glamorous details of life-narratives typically conveyed by only the finest and most well-preserved vintage pieces. To handcraft Jean de Merry seating, lighting, and

casegoods, talented American craftsman trained in age-old techniques apply their wizardry to real-wood veneers, leather, shagreen, parchment and bronze. Upcoming forays into fabrics and mirrors will surely spin new yarns. .The tale of how de Merry came to produce furniture is the stuff of which novels are made-literally. He is an acclaimed French author of several titles (his pen name is Jean-Claude Libourel) who, in 2000, having just published a book reimagining the life of the Virgin Mary (with a foreword written by Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer), headed for the small French town where successive generations of his family had operated a tanning business. “I went to find out about the family story in order to write about it,” de Merry recalls. He met with his great great uncle who not only shared the particulars of his rich heritage but also the family’s secret tanning method, which had been used for four centuries.

“He taught me how to age the raw hide and I then used that secret recipe to create a pair of chairs for myself,” recalls de Merry.

“A friend, Christian Maroselli, admired the result and asked me to make a pair for him. It wasn’t long before the two of us had a little business going in the garage.”

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To inform his own fresh designs, De Merry, who had long been interested in and had collected antiques, drew on his own entrenched knowledge-base as well as searching out compelling furniture forms in flea markets, antiques shops, and books. Just as he had once shaped fictional characters by inhabiting rough-hewn shells, which he fleshed out through an extended process of refinement, he reinvented lamps and furniture of the 1940s by spontaneously generating ideas and then fine-tuning them.

“I would wake up in the middle of the night and sketch a concept on a pad, the same way I used to write my books. The end results are wholly new designs rooted in older forms and based on traditional ways of manufacturing.”

He describes the character of his pieces as Yin-Yang-the richness of the materials, he says, lend the furnishings a feminine allure while the lines create a more masculine one. “What appeals to me most is the balance of male and female characteristics in the pieces,” says the designer. Hints of the works of the various historical designers whom he admires-Eileen Gray, Jean-Michel Frank, Billy Haines, Robsjohn Gibbons, and Paul Laszlo find their way into his creations. After that, “It’s all in the method,” claims de Merry. “We’re applying very special methods to our materials.”

The Jean de Merry company was officially founded in March of 2001, and today its pieces are purveyed in his own Los Angeles-based showroom as well as in eight others, including three in Asia-in Taipei, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

De Merry masterminds the creative end, overseeing design and manufacturing while Maroselli manages the sales and business dimensions. A lover of fine art, Maroselli also stages exhibitions for artists and soon he will launch a line of fabrics woven in Italy.

De Merry enthuses about another expansion presently occurring under his purview, one that will extend the firm’s philosophy of preserving ancient techniques on the verge of extinction that lead to the creation of sophisticated handcrafted products:

“We just bought a company as a way to save a disappearing craftsman’s technique. For the last 45 years this artisan has been creating the most interesting and gorgeous mirrors and he is the only one in existence who knows how to do what he does.”

“There are 25-30 different colors, from yellow sapphire to gold veining on a black background. He’s going to teach us and we’ll make a line of mirrored furniture and mirrors using these methods and in this way pass the torch to another generation.”

This savior of fading craftsmanship is not called Jean by those who work for him but rather, “Tio”, an affectionate appellation for a leader who has the best interests of the craftspersons who work with him at heart. De Merry’s business theories hold that he should produce all his wares in America, train talented artisans who run their own companies in the necessary skills, and commission them to produce his wares.

“For me, business is about sharing and empowerment and everyone having a stake in and pride in the work they do. All the craftsmen we work with share a common passion for quality.”

He continues, “I want them to make money as I do. If they are happy, I am happy and vice versa. My firm keeps them busy all the time but since they own their own operations, they are free to accept outside jobs as well.”

De Merry has been able to unearth the buried nuggets of his own legacy and transform them into something that is both uniquely suited to him and to the times in which we live. He marches forward not only as a custodian of artisans and their rare skills but also as a design innovator. His company’s products outfit top-flight projects ranging from the Bergdorf Goodman restaurant in New York to the London flat of Tamara Mellon, owner of Jimmy Choo. “I’m always moving in new directions,” he says, “but each enterprise also must be focused on developing something new because, in the end, I am a creator.” And so, it would appear that the final chapter of de Merry’s intriguing tale of reinvention is far from complete.

Bergdorf Goodman Restaurant In NYC. Interior Design By Kelly Wearstler. As Seen In Elle Décor US In 2006.

Tamara Melon residence, Owner Of Jimmy Choo. Interior Designer: Martyn Lawrence Bullard Photographer: Manolo Yllera. As Featured In Architectural Digest Russia Feb 2009.

Living Room Photographer: Mary E Nichols. Interior Designer: Hendrix Allardyce. As Featured In Architectural Digest July 2009.