Designer Charles Zana Unveils His Latest Furniture and Object Collection

Designer and architect Charles Zana is familiar with the power of contrast. In his interior design and architectural projects, which run the gamut from palazzo interiors in Venice to hotels in Saint-Tropez and apartments in Monte Carlo, he is known for mixing old and new, often drawing on his immense knowledge of art and architectural history to inform his designs. He also understands the power of singular objects to stand apart in a room and set the tone for a space, an ethos epitomized in his own designs of furniture, lighting, and home objects. Zana’s is an approach grounded in the appreciation of beauty in individual objects and their ability to hold stories—and his latest exhibition in his home city of Paris puts this on full display.

Photo by Gaspard Hermach

Photo by Gaspard Hermach

Titled In Situ and coinciding with Art Basel Paris, the exhibition includes over 30 works designed by Zana, ranging from furniture to lighting and wall-hanging mirrors. Along with his own pieces, Zana is showcasing an array of art objects from his personal collection. “It’s a more complete portrait of my world,” explains Zana, whose collection includes works by Ettore Sottsass and Carlo Mollino along with 19th-century paintings by Eugène Carrière and classical sculptures from Galerie Chenel.

It’s part and parcel of Zana’s interest in exploring dialogue in design. “Visitors will recognize my ongoing pursuit of contrast and dialogue–between scales, eras, and materials,” he says. Adding another voice to the conversation is the venue for In Situ: the Directoire apartment at 242 Rue de Rivoli in Paris.

Photo by Gaspard Hermach

Portrait of Charles Zana by Olivia Haudry

Once home to Le Cercle Suédois, a Swedish cultural club founded in 1891, the apartment overlooks the Tuileries Garden and is just steps from the Place de la Concorde. “The grandeur and intellectual history of the apartment invited me to push my furniture into more sculptural, architectural dimensions while keeping the atmosphere intimate, as though the pieces had always been part of the apartment’s soul,” Zana says of the space.

For his part, Zana brought his characteristic sculptural approach to his own pieces in the exhibition. Anchoring the space is his Sara sofa, a monumental reinterpretation of his iconic Julie sofa which stretches nearly six metres in length as its sinuous S shape swoops through the apartment. Tables in walnut and lacquer sit nearby, with many examples of Zana’s wall-mounted lighting throughout the space. “This is my most personal and daring exhibition,” he reveals. “The works are more sculptural; the scale, more ambitious.”

Photo by Gaspard Hermach

Photo by Gaspard Hermach

Seeing Zana’s work with pieces from his personal art collection gives an intimate window into his world, offering glimpses of his inspirations and influences. It also demonstrates how he imagines his furniture to live in the world—hence the exhibition title. “In Situ comes from the Latin for ‘in its natural place,’” he explains. “I wanted this exhibition to feel instinctive, inevitable—not staged, but truly lived in.” For Zana, it represents a moment of arrival and landing—a space of true belonging.

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