2023 marks for Pedrali the tenth year of collaboration with the world-renowned French designer Patrick Jouin. The partnership started in 2013 with Ester armchair and reflects the combination of the creative expression of the designer and the know-how of the Italian company.
Patrick Jouin was born in Nantes, France, in 1967 and obtained his degree in 1992 at the ENSCI- l’École Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle in Paris. He expresses his creativity both in industrial design and in the decorative arts, occupying an important place on the international design scene, where few can operate with the same ease and strength. Besides working on industrial design with his Patrick Jouin ID studio, he also works on interior projects together with Sanjit Manku, with the studio Jouin Manku founded in 2006. The evolution of Patrick Jouin's career was celebrated in 2009 with a monographic exhibition at the Centre Pompidou and in 2011 with the awarding of the Compasso d'Oro ADI.
In this prestigious context, the foundations of the collaboration with the company were laid. “At the celebrations for the Compasso d’Oro ADI in Rome, I met Monica and Giuseppe Pedrali. A short time later we got together to work on an upholstered, elegant and super comfortable seat for the Dorchester restaurant in London. This is how we came to create Ester.”
The name of the collection takes inspiration specifically from the place for which it was created.
From the first armchair, a true collection was born, selected for decorating the best starred restaurants, luxury boutiques and flats in the world's great metropolises.
Ester is a mix of ergonomics, elegance and functionality. It is a precious monolith made of leather, complemented by refined die-cast aluminium legs and characterised by soft and graceful lines. Ester’s great comfort is ensured by the seat made of polyurethane foam with elastic belts.
Ester has been selected fo the most renowned settings over the years, including some prestigious restaurants of the starred chef Alain Ducasse.
Ester armchairs and barstools furnish BBR by Alain Ducasse, a modern, energic and vibrant environment in the historical Bar & Billiards Room at Raffles hotel in Singapore. Again Ester bastools, presented in this case in emerald green velvet, fit in the Voyages restaurant by Alain Ducasse, nestled in the heart of the impressive Morpheus Hotel in Macao. Located in another fascinating and alluring setting, the fine neutral colour of Ester armchairs is combined with the blue colour of the boiserie and the natural wood in its walnut essence at the Blue restaurant by Alain Ducasse in Bangkok. To mention a few more, Esterre restaurant by Alain Ducasse at Palace Hotel in Tokyo and Mix restaurant by Alain Ducasse in the prestigious Emeral Palace Kempiski in Dubai.
Even the multi-starred chef Antonino Cannavacciuolo chose this refined and successful collection to characterise some of his restaurants. Ester armchairs, selected in a distinctive red tone, give colour to the restaurant within the splendid setting of Villa Crespi in Orta San Giulio. Recently, the same armchairs were chosen in the warm shade of brown to welcome guests in the Cannavacciuolo Countryside restaurant in Ticciano, an idyllic village on the Sorrento Hills where the green of the countryside intertwines with the blue of the sea.
Ester collection also furnishes some of the world’s most exclusive hotels such as the Richer de Belleval in Montpellier and La Mamounia, the 5-star hotel located in the heart of Marrakech, one of the most iconic sites in the imperial city. Here the Ester collection by Pedrali fits in several spaces, including the Marocain Bar, the Churchill Bar and the Oenothèque.
In addition, Ester features in some projects of a more contract nature, such as Biome in Paris, a futuristic architectural project redesigning the skyline of the 15th arrondissement of Paris. The French national airline Air France also chose chairs and barstools from the Ester collection to furnish the lounges of the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and the Franz-Josef Strauss airport in Munich. Finally, the luxury super yacht MY KENSHŌ recently awarded Best Interior Design, Motor Yachts 500GT and Above.