By Katy B. Olson
One new platform is lifting the veil on previously un-purchasable pieces from top French interior design and architecture notables. The e-commerce concept, called The Invisible Collection, debuted earlier this autum and hosts work from 30 designers that has heretofore been available only to private clients—and every piece on the site is made to order.
Geared toward professionals, collectors and interior design aficionados, the site is considered by its creative team to be a catalog, one with an inventory that’s updated every two weeks. Editorial content is also updated regularly, with profiles of interior designers and their current projects, as well as reviews of emerging industry trends. “The work of contemporary interior designers, made to order by the most expert hands and with the most knowledgeable craftsmanship, encapsulates luxury today,” the brand explains.
The site’s founding team is an international one: co-founder Isabelle Dubern, a former Bloomberg journalist and current creative director for a luxe French home brand, who lives in London and Paris; Anna Zaoui, advisor and board member for “The Snow Show,” the Serpentine Galleries, BFAMI and The Brain Circle, who lives in London and New York; and Lily Froehlicher, general manager, who brings experience from Chanel and Hermès. But the designers featured are exclusively French: Among the 30 or so on the roster are Pierre Yovanovitch, Daniel and Michel Bismut, India Mahdavi, Thierry Lemaire, Fabrice Ausset, Damien Langlois-Meurinne, Caroline Sarkozy and Laurent Bourgois, Gilles & Boissier, Jérôme Faillant-Dumas, Elliott Barnes, Isabelle Stanislas, François Champsaur, Jean-Louis Deniot, Michel Jouannet, Olivier Gagnère, Tristan Auer and Karen Chekerdjian.
Starting today, the growing site will participate in an exhibit in the U.S., at Art Basel Miami Beach, as part of Laurence Dreyfus’s “Chambres à Part” exhibition series. There, The Invisible Collection will showcase its work alongside design and art from Hernan Bas, Cecily Brown, Matthew Day Jackson, Olafur Eliasson, Mark Hagen, Cristina Lei Rodriguez, Jillian Mayer, Jorge Mayet, Simone Pheulpin, Ugo Rondinone, Tomás Saraceno and Soraya Sharghi.
Upcoming partnerships and appearances will include Salone del Mobile next April; a special guest exhibit in Waddington Custot galleries in Dubai and London; capsule collections with a number of fashion brands; and participation in the Holiday House charity in London.
“Our vision for the future is to become the worldwide hub for exceptional furniture and interior design. To bring together each country’s most talented interior designers, uniting their furniture collections on a single website and enriching The Invisible Collection with new exclusive creations," share the founders. "Our objective is to offer the advice and savoir-faire of our interior designers to our clients, edit a referral book each year, decorate the interiors of beautiful design hotels with our designers, reinforcing their image and making their work accessible to collectors and furniture lovers both online and offline.”
