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Valerie Goodman
After a friend prompted me to visit the website of Jacques Jarrige in 2010, I knew instantly that I had found what I was looking for: a designer who had his own distinct vocabulary, whose work was well balanced yet surprising, and who expressed himself more as an artist than a furniture maker. The online images were small, but seeing his sensually curved floor and table lamps, his cocktail tables with their organically carved out-openings, and his sofa that fascinatingly looked like a metal line drawing convinced me to book a flight to Paris - I was certain that Jacques Jarrige was the designer I wanted to represent in the gallery I was about to open in New York. After managing a gallery devoted to twentieth century European decorative arts for several years I had decided to turn over a new leaf. I wanted to share my vision of what would be the most vibrant and innovative design coming out of my native France today. When I arrived in Paris, my first encounter with the diverse yet clearly related family of objects that inhabit Jacques Jarrige's home and small, crammed but orderly studio went far beyond my expectations. Already enchanted by the images on his website, I immediately and completely fell under the spell of these carefully crafted objects with their tactile sensitivity and noble simplicity in real life. Meet足ing their creator, I felt we'd already been introduced by these graceful, quiet pieces. I found the same lean, nimble and poetic quality in the person as in the things he makes, complemented by generosity, patience and a passion for experiment.