PARIS.- Julie Blum announced the reopening of the Galerie Anne-Sophie Duval after a year of major renovation.

To inaugurate this new era, the gallery presents Jewelry Objects, an exceptional exhibition where Sophie Buhai unveils a new collection at the crossroads between jewelry and design. This event marks the revival of the Galerie Anne-Sophie Duval, recently transformed by the French architect and designer Sylvain Dubuisson as well as the 10th anniversary of Sophie Buhai's jewelry brand.

Sophie Buhai met Julie Blum, the director of the Galerie Anne-Sophie Duval in 2022. The visit of the gallery turns into a passionate exchange around Art Deco and lacquer, a technique whose history and know-how fascinate them both. This spontaneous dialogue marks the beginning of an intellectual and creative complicity, nourished by a common admiration for exceptional craftsmanship and objects. For Julie, Sophie's work perfectly illustrates the subtle balance between sophisticated simplicity and preciousness. Each creation transcends everyday life to become a true object of contemplation.

Sophie Buhai has established herself at the intersection of design and jewelry. She built a reputation for her solid silver jewelry and precious objects. A world somewhere between modernist poetry and surrealism.

With Jewelry Objects, she explores a new dimension of design by presenting an exclusive collection of 19 unique or limited edition pieces, where craftsmanship and formal freedom meet. Highlights include a minaudiere and vase in black urushi lacquer and carnelian, with stones selected from the Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Showcase in Arizona, a magnifying glass in brushed silver, bronze, rock crystal and blackened silver, a surreal nod to Salvador Dalí, a silver and carnelian pill box, as well as a toothpick case and a curved letter opener.

In this exhibition, Sophie Buhai's creations dialogue with emblematic pieces of Art Deco, carefully selected by Julie Blum. Among them, a pair of 'Basket' armchairs made in 1912 by André Groult, a key figure in Art Deco, and 'The peer Balancer', a surrealist composition by Etienne Cournault made in 1929 in collaboration with Jean Prouvé.

Jewelry Objects is a continuation of the legacy of Galerie Anne-Sophie Duval, which, since 1972, has been highlighting Art Deco and the great names in the decorative arts.

Through this exhibition, Julie Blum and Sophie Buhai echo the revival of this movement, celebrated this year on the occasion of its centenary. This exhibition offers Julie Blum and Sophie Buhai the opportunity to bring a new look at Art Deco, by reinterpreting it through a contemporary prism. In this way, they reaffirm the influence on contemporary design and breath new inspiration into designers and collectors.

For decades, Galerie Anne-Sophie Duval has championed French Art Deco furniture. Since displaying Dunand’s lacquer works at the 1972 Paris Biennale in a booth designed by Karl Lagerfeld, founder Anne-Sophie Duval’s gallery has maintained close ties to fashion. Julie Blum, Duval’s daughter and the current director notes “Art Deco would not have existed without fashion designers’ patronage.. one way or another, those two arts are meant to inspire each other.”

The gallery celebrates distinctive works ranging from the likes of Pierre Chareau, Jean-Michel Frank, and Armand Albert Rateau to Eileen Gray, Alberto Giacometti, and Andrew Groult. Since Duval passed away in 2008, her daughter, Julie Blum, continues to present innovative early 20th-century works as well as a selection of mid-century pieces.

Notably, the gallery has presented a series of retrospective exhibitions, highlighting women artists and pioneers who played a determining role in the development of the Art Deco and modernist movements. Highlight subjects include sculptural post-war work by female ceramists (2009).

Sophie Buhai is a Los Angeles-based designer who launched her namesake jewelry brand in 2015. The brand debuted with an emphasis on contemporary interpretations of the modernist sterling silver jewelry tradition, and has since become known for sculptural hand-carved stone jewelry and sterling silver objects.

The collections have been presented in institutions of art and design such as The Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, The Museum of Art and Design, and Trevor Cheney Gallery in Los Angeles.