Maxime Bellaunay – Cabinetmaker of the territories

Île-de-France – 1994

Maxime Bellaunay graduated from the Ecole Boulle (Paris) with a Brevet des Métiers d’Art in cabinetmaking (2016) and a Diplôme des Métiers d’Art specialized in decoration and surface treatment (2018). Following this course, he entered the same year in residence at the Ateliers de Paris and has been practicing his profession there ever since.

His practice combines material, nature and know-how. In fact, he is a cabinetmaker of the territories. To understand, it is necessary to dissect this status.

According to the INMA, “the cabinetmaker designs and produces single or small series of furniture. Traditionally attached to the work of wood, especially rare and precious species, the use opens to all types of materials – Corian, textile, metal, glass, stone, etc..” Thus, the profession of cabinetmaking is now considered as a know-how of association of materials to create decorative or functional furniture pieces. This is how Maxime Bellaunay sees himself as a craftsman. He uses wood, stone or metal to create his pieces, and associates them to each other to make unique pieces of functional or sculptural objects.

The word “territory” is associated with Maxime Bellaunay’s passion for travel. For each of his travels, it is the means to discover new materials, to go to their meeting and to consider them as tools of creation.

With his very specific methods, he designs and creates objects combining different skills and materials. Moreover, he maintains a permanent dialogue with design, inscribing his know-how in various projects: furniture, objects or lighting. He designs custom-made furniture for individuals and objects published in small series, resulting from his collaborations in France and Japan.

Research and innovation

Maxime Bellaunay’s particularity lies in his inspiration through travel. In fact, this is how he discovers raw materials and appropriates them by considering them in creative projects. Also, to exploit these discoveries of materials and to apply them, he must know the techniques specific to each material of each environment. In fact, the use of these techniques differs according to the origins and the territories.

Stone is one of the elements he works on the most. He travels by studying rocks in their environment. Furthermore, he interprets the landscapes to shape his creations. Their geological, human and cultural origins are as many inspirations in the development of objects charged with meaning.  He creates by starting from a block and comes to tear off the matter without working it. Gesture after gesture, impact after impact, the material is revealed in its purest form and the object is drawn through it. The primitive form which is then revealed, dialogues with the functional or sculptural structure which accompanies it.

Maxime Bellaunay trusts the material. In fact, he allows it this infinite freedom from which all men have been inspired, the objective being that it can deliver the atmosphere and the colors with which it is endowed. Thus, the object no longer has the status of an object. It goes far beyond by representing a territory that awakens our senses.

In addition, with a deep respect for the material that emerges from his working methods, the craftsman is inevitably involved in an environmental responsibility approach.

Will to transmit

Since 2019, Maxime Bellaunay teaches two days a week in schools. At Ecole Boulle (Paris) in the Object Design department as well as at Ecole de Condé (Paris). There, he supervises the prototyping workshop. He would like to initiate residencies in his workshop by welcoming other artisans to develop collaborative projects.

Fondation Rémy Cointreau is pleased to support Maxime Bellaunay in the acquisition of a set of stone cutting tools and workshop equipment.