PULP GALERIE

Paul Ménacer-Poussin & Paul-Louis Betto are curators and co-founders of Pulp Galerie, an apartment which offers sculptural furniture by major designers from the 70s to the 00s, located in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. Always on the lookout for new aesthetics, their passion for design is expressed through radical and sensual shapes. From the colored resins of Gaetano Pesce to the raw metal of Paolo Pallucco & Mireille Rivier, their selection of rare pieces aims to be eclectic and harmonious. At Pulp Galerie, sculpture and furniture meld harmoniously, giving way to a captivating and engaging aesthetic experience, far from pure functionalism. 

  • 1. You met each other in school while studying business in art, how did your encounter led to starting a gallery together? Was it a natural decision that seemed obvious?

    We met each others three years ago in kind of Art Business School. On the first day, we had to introduce ourselves to the class and talk about our past professional experiences. It didn't take us long to realize how similar our backgrounds were. Both had a taste for art, both were « novice collectors », but above all we were entrepreneurs by nature ! These similarities facilitated our first meeting, and quickly led to talk of creating a company together. Without any specific ideas, the project went through a number of phases, including one focused on consulting, which quickly came to an end. At the time,

    we weren't particularly thinking about a gallery. We simply had to find a balance between the classic gallery and the collector's living space. A gallery but in a warm space with objects selected according to our passions, moods and desires. The idea of a apartment gallery was born. Living room, dining room, hallway,

    all with parquet floors, moldings and fireplaces in a luxurious Haussmann apartment. This is what Pulp Galerie will look like.

  • 2. What is the most challenging part about owning a gallery in Paris?

    When we first set up Pulp Galerie, we quickly came up against the problem of finding exceptional pieces that fit our style. This is not just a problem for Parisian galleries, but for galleries all over the world, who seek to bring a genuine idea of selection and curation

    to their catalogs. In fact, it's our operating mode that makes this kind of challenge appeared. Pulp Galerie doesn't buy by opportunity, but by selecting each piece one by one, to offer an eclectic and coherent collection of rare objects. Sometimes it's not even

    a question of buying at the right price, but of jumping at the opportunity when it presents itself, because it's so rare.

    This means managing the accounting aspects of the business,

    as well as cash flow issues. Day or night, at the end or the beginning of the month, the piece of our dreams may appear, and it's up to us to catch it.

  • 3. What questions do you ask yourselves before adding a new item to your gallery?

    The first question is obviously whether this object deserves to be included in our selection. To answer this question, we need to think about several aspects. First and foremost, do we like this piece? Living in this gallery apartment every day, we want to be surrounded by objects we love and are proud of. It's always easier to discuss and defend them with collectors. We sell objects, but we also sell our vision and our taste. Then, of course, we question the historical interest of this piece in the designer's career and in the overall history of modern design. What is certain is that the question of ease of sale is never questioned. We select and sell what we love above all. We want to take our collectors along with us in our vision of beauty, a vision that is unique to us and that obviously can't please everyone.

  • 4. How do you manage to find a good balance between your friendship and your business?

    As our work is more closely akin to a real passion, we don't often feel that we're actually working! It's the same for our friendship: we work every day with fervor and enthusiasm, we discuss, we debate, we laugh a lot too... working together is like living our friendship, there's no distinction between the two in our opinion!

  • 5. Did you expected to receive such an enthusiastic response from the public towards your project?

    When it comes to companies selling objects that concern the senses and the taste, it's never guaranteed that they'll be a real success. However, design from the 80s is very fashionable today. The relationship between design and fashion in these years is particularly strong, seducing a wider public every day. One of our favorite designers is Paolo Pallucco. He has collaborated with Rei Kawakubo, the founder of Comme des Garçons. Gaetano Pesce has collaborated with Bottega Veneta. Shiro Kuramata with Issey Miyake. Many designers with a background in architecture are commissioned to design store interiors and furnishings. Furthermore, designers of the 80s and 90s truly elevated themselves to the status of artist. Furniture becomes a work of art, they're true sculptures. It's easier for us to defend the furniture we love to collectors through the prism of fashion and art furniture. Today, we're lucky enough to have collectors who trust us completely. They commission us to freely enrich their collections. Trustworthy buyers and collectors are the key to success for a gallery like ours. You have to be surrounded by buyers who have confidence in the evolution of our tastes. We started with 70s furniture, often at prices under €1,000. We're always happy to see that after selling them this type of furniture, they continue to follow us into different periods and higher budgets. This is a sign of a healthy and solid relationship, based on trust in the gallerist-collector connection and on the quality of the objects we offer for sale.

  • 6. Exploring your catalog, we can feel that you are both very sensitive to modern design, specially furnitures with unconventional shapes that question the traditional concept of a home. What is your opinion on the evolution of home decoration from traditional to more and more experimental?

    We totally think that furniture creation and trend are correlated to artistic creation, in the conventional aspect of it. Since near than

    100 years, art is in total reinvention, far and always more far from academism and traditional conception ! As we particularly love in art what’s is disruptive and provocative, we are looking for furniture that embrace this kind of artistic research. Our ideal house should be a wonderful Renaissance castle decorated with the most rude, radical and modern furnitures !

  • 7. What is the ultimate furniture that you dream of purchasing?

    We dream about a lot of ultra small produced pieces of the 80-90s, pieces that was so crazy and so unusable that never really enter into production. Our actuel dream is the How High to the moon sofa (not armchair) by Shiro Kuramata, produced in a very limited quantity during the 80s. This piece represent the paroxysm of poetic and sculptural furnitures. This sofa seems floating above the ground while letting the light shine through. Totally uncomfortable, totally hardcore, totally Pulp vibes !

  • 8. Your selection is very focused on international designers, Is opening a gallery abroad an idea you might consider one day?

    The designers we represent today are mainly Italian and French. Their designs speak to us, especially when they are linked to high quality workmanship. This is the role of publishers such as XO, Pallucco Roma, Alias Italy and Zerodisegno. Today, we sell our furniture mainly in Paris, New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo. There's no doubt that international expansion would be a great way for the gallery to develop in the future. Europe, USA, Asia, why should we choose? We'll open everywhere!

  • 9. How do you see the evolution of Pulp Galerie for the coming years?

    Over the coming years, we will be working on a number of exciting and important projects. We'll have to open new galleries, take part in a number of design art fairs and much more besides. What is absolutely sure is that we want to follow our guiding vision.

    Exclusive, marginal and sculptural furniture. Form before function, style above all: that's Pulp Galerie's DNA. Stay tuned to our instagram page to follow our next projects.

Interview by FRANCISCO TRAUTMANN // Portait by STUDIO GUILLAUME BENOIT // Gallery images by ALEXIS NARODETZKY

Narcisse Magazine - Issue 13