Maison Matisse invited British designer Faye Toogood to interpret Chinese black ink on white paper from the book "Dessins: Thèmes et Variations" by Henri Matisse into a collection.

Henri Matisse is known for the masterful use of color found within his art, but there’s another world of his work focused on lines and shapes. For Milan Design Week 2023, Maison Matisse invited British designer Faye Toogood to interpret Chinese black ink on white paper from the book Dessins: Thèmes et Variations” by Matisse. Throughout its pages the artist repeatedly works over themes until the drawings reach a sort of natural equilibrium, completely devoid of color. The resulting Esquisses collection includes living room and bedroom furniture that pays homage to Matisse’s originality and the liberation expressed in these line drawings. Photo: Delfino Sisto Legnani, DSL Studio
Toogood was the ideal person to tap for the collaboration, as Matisse has long been a source of inspiration for the designer’s work. Her 2017 “Assemblage 5” collection was dedicated to Matisse?s “Chapelle du Rosaire” in Venice. The collaboration with Maison Matisse, founded by the artist’s descendants, allowed Toogood to dig further into his influence, creating her own form-based vocabulary.
Photo: Delfino Sisto Legnani, DSL Studio
“With drawing as the start point, I worked on creating a library of gesture, line, and shape responding to motifs ...