G
alerie 44 is a vintage furniture gallery, which deals in twentieth century design with a focus on furniture from the ‘50s to the ‘70s, as well as Mid-century modern icons. Slightly off the beaten track, Galerie 44 represents a new type of business model successful in the Internet era: virtual visibility with a well-structured and user-friendly website, and a physical presence with a showroom/ warehouse where customers can see everything for themselves.
The website is for placing reservations only, and within 24 hours prospective buyers will be contacted by the gallery to discuss details. Gallery 44’s young founding member David Brunon has managed to capitalize on his experience as a commercial manager in the furniture trade. He wants to bring together the benefits of having an online presence with fostering personal client relationships: “I serve others as I would like to be served, just that”.
About 40 kilometres north of Lyon, France, Galerie 44 is located in the village of Fareins, known for its wonderful early seventeenth century castle, open to day-trippers. Close by, David found a 200 sqm warehouse built in the fifties, an old industrial-style garage with concrete floors and glass panes inset in an iron frame, ideal for a showroom.
Passionate about design and the constant search for vintage pieces, or the hunt as he refers to it, David has built partnerships with skilled craftspeople, who lovingly restore the furniture he finds in Europe and the United States. David works with a cabinetmaker, upholsterer, painter, stone cutter, framer and welder. All of them “on point”.
The name Galerie 44 was inspired by Le Corbusier’s work, who one hundred kilometers away built one of his most beautiful masterpieces, the convent of Sainte Marie de La Tourette. Le Corbusier famously stated that a person must be able to move freely in his own home. So, in 1944 he invented the Modulor, which has since then become a way of measuring domestic spaces. David Brunon thought this concept to be key, therefore he wanted to include the publication year in the gallery name: 1944.

Store Infos
GALERIE44
Design du XXième Siècle
59, Montée du Moulin
Fareins, France
Tel: 00 33 (0)7 81 80 24 18
Email: david.brunon @ galerie44.fr
www.galerie44.com
Open by appointment only
Photos:
Courtesy Galerie44