French design duo Studio GGSV has created an extraordinary immersive installation called "The Salons of Imagination" for the newly established Manufactures Nationales as part of its inaugural PAVILLON program. The project transforms a 200-square-meter historic apartment in the Pavillon d'Angiviller at the Manufacture des Gobelins in Paris into three interconnected interior spaces where art, architecture, and craftsmanship converge to offer profound sensory experiences.
Conceived for the first edition of the program at the institution's invitation, the project gives contemporary designers complete freedom to envision tomorrow's interiors while honoring the essential role of interior designers. Gaëlle Gabillet and Stéphane Villard, the founders of Studio GGSV who are renowned for their experimental use of illusion and trompe-l'oeil techniques, designed every piece of furniture and décor for the installation, presenting several never-before-seen works.
The three distinct environments – the Reception Salon, the Conversation Salon, and the Reading Salon – are conceived as spaces that stimulate the mind while inviting contemplation. These rooms encourage visitors to imagine, exchange ideas, and dream while celebrating French savoir-faire and traditional craftsmanship techniques.
"France has a long history of distinctive styles – every king had his own," Studio GGSV explained during a visit to the installation. "Yet the concept of the ensemblier is unique: creating interiors as complete wholes, where architecture, fixed décor, movable décor, and furniture are in dialogue. This approach flourished through the Mobilier National until the 1920s, with Art Deco often seen as the last great French style to embrace it."
According to the design duo, focus shifted more narrowly to individual pieces of furniture after that period, and the integrated vision was largely lost. For the centenary of Art Deco, rather than mounting another exhibition, the director of the Mobilier National posed a new question: what could an ensemble mean in 2025? The result is this reimagined apartment divided into three rooms, each exploring a different relationship between décor and furniture.
Founded in 2011 by Gaëlle Gabillet and Stéphane Villard, Studio GGSV takes a multidisciplinary approach that spans design, installation, exhibition curation, and interior architecture. The duo were residents at the Villa Medici in 2018 for a research project exploring the application of painting to objects and architecture. Their works are part of the collections of prestigious institutions including the Centre Pompidou, the CNAP, and the Mobilier National.
Studio GGSV has been commissioned by notable institutions and luxury brands including the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, Fondation Rothschild, Hermès, Chanel, and Galeries Lafayette. In 2023, they won the call for proposals "Re-enchanting the Villa Medici" with their project Camera Fantasia, and are currently presenting the monumental installation Grand Feu to mark the 200th anniversary of the Musée de la Céramique in Sèvres.
In this latest commission, the Paris-based design duo blurs the boundaries between architecture, décor, and furniture. Patterns, materials, and forms echo and extend one another to create a unified yet unconventional whole, resulting in three distinct yet interconnected environments.
The Reception Salon explores the dialogue between architectural structure and applied décor through a monumental segmented-wood library at its center. The library's hypnotic black-and-white rhythms recall the twisted columns of Louis XIII style, with these patterns extending across console tables, lamps, and molded wall panels printed directly onto wood. The design creates trompe-l'oeil perspectives that multiply depth, while pilasters shift between illusion and reality, merging décor and structure into a unified whole.
"Working with Mobilier National's carpenters, we created a modular furniture system with an architectural scale – flexible enough to generate multiple pieces from the same structure," Studio GGSV explained. "Its form references the curves of Louis XIII furniture, but reimagined with alternating black and white laminated layers that transform the surfaces depending on the angle." Classical and baroque references combine with art deco geometry, forming a layered composition where perception continuously oscillates between surface and volume.
The Conversation Salon is conceived as a space for sociability, centered around a large hexagonal sofa tailored to the room's proportions. Its generous, organic forms reinterpret the conviviality of historic salons while echoing the art of topiary. "The second room takes inspiration from the garden, organized around a monumental hexagonal sofa designed for conversation – echoing both French traditions of salons and Middle Eastern majlis spaces," Gaëlle Gabillet and Stéphane Villard shared.
The walls of the Conversation Salon are covered with textile frames in metallic verdigris reliefs, reflecting light in subtle gradients that evoke foliage and garden shadows. Divided into moldings and cornices, these frames mirror the bay window and visually extend the surrounding landscape. Overhead, a luminous ceiling disc evokes a shifting sky, casting the room in an atmosphere specifically designed for dialogue and exchange.
Tapestries by Canadian artist Xénia Lucie Laffely introduce landscapes of fire and greenery in relief, further blurring the line between inside and outside. Historic vases and sculptural pieces from the Mobilier National collection complete the scene, reinforcing the dialogue between interior décor and garden-inspired forms.
The Reading Salon envelops visitors in a total environment where architecture and painting dissolve into one cohesive experience. Romantic landscapes inspired by 19th-century art and Mobilier National tapestries cover the walls, floor, and ceiling, transforming the interior into a three-dimensional fresco. Rocks, mountains, and vegetation intertwine to create a dreamlike landscape where built-in libraries and armchairs appear to grow from the setting itself.
"Drawings once confined to chair backs or framed panels now spread across the entire space, covering walls, armchairs, and even the floor – which reflects like a blurred lake," the Studio GGSV design duo mentioned. "At first glance, visitors see a landscape; at second, colors; at third, a meditative space for introspection. Custom aluminum wall lights add impressionist reflections, further merging architecture and furniture into a seamless, immersive environment."
Hammered aluminum sconces scatter colors in impressionistic flashes, further blurring the boundary between interior and exterior. The result is a contemplative atmosphere dedicated to perception and imagination, creating a space where visitors can lose themselves in literary pursuits.
Several pieces were developed in collaboration with the artisans of the Manufactures Nationales, the institution created in 2025 from the merger of the Mobilier National and the Cité de la Céramique – Sèvres – Limoges, which brings together more than 53 artisanal trades. For this project, the Sèvres workshops produced three porcelain vases with petit feu decoration, their fiery glazes recalling the centuries-old alchemy of ceramics.
The Atelier de Recherche et de Création (ARC) worked with Studio GGSV on the library, console, and lamps. Crafted from white sycamore and ancient bog oak, these turned-wood pieces reinterpret the twisted column of Louis XIII furniture as a structural motif and are designed to be assembled without screws, highlighting both adaptability and technical virtuosity.
Displayed until the end of 2025, the installation creates a vital link between centuries of artisanal heritage and contemporary design experimentation. The Pavillon d'Angiviller serves as a cultural hub, hosting events, professional gatherings, and exhibitions that promote French savoir-faire both nationally and internationally, ensuring that traditional craftsmanship continues to evolve and inspire future generations of designers and artisans.
