ÖST OUEST is about bringing together the artistic skill of Parisian furniture creator THOMAS LEMUT and the know-how of cabinetmaker JOHANNES ECKART in Salzburger Land. The present collection of six furniture pieces (limited edition, numbered and signed) is the beginning of a collaboration centered on international creation produced exclusively locally and distributed in the new Altenmarkt in Pongau showroom and in Austria. The ÖST OUEST project is a rare and unique challenge in contemporary furniture creation and interior design. The decision to locally produce and commercialise this highly sophisticated and elegant collection, underlines the wish to propose something new to the public. It also add another perspective to the economic structure of today’s furniture design. One could see this process as a “re-localisation” as well as support to the craftsman’s trade. This particular fabrication process serves THOMAS LEMUT’s creative world extremely well. In his work, functionality follows the aesthetic, and yet remains the core and a necessarily generous ingredient. Although the tectonics and mechanical joining are an essential part of both the visual and emotional experience, the engineering inherent to the object’s function is hidden in this case, reminding us of the power of subtlety. The pieces are elegant and sober, sometimes even austere, as a tribute to the basic, though essential, power and strength of furniture itself. Authenticity is an emotion that every object should experience.
