The checks that appear here and there in the exquisitely detailed Bains Gardians Resort are a reference to the saddle cloths of France’s Camargue: see A French Country Retreat that Celebrates White Horses and “Conscious Hedonism.
We especially coveted a pair of small, eminently useful black and white tables in the bar, and assumed that, like most of the furnishings, they were either the work of local artisans or vintage.
Then the hotel’s designers, Samantha Hauvette and Lucas Madani of Hauvette & Madani in Paris unveiled their latest furniture collection and it features a similar side table of handmade marquetry. The design world’s answer to the little black dress? Check it out.
The Sighting
Above: Les Bains Gardians’s restaurant is in the original farmhouse on the property. Here are the two bar tables that caught our eye. Photograph by Matthieu Salvaing, courtesy of Les Bains Gardians.
The Source
Above: Julie Barrau, the Arles art and antiques dealer and “furniture hunter,” who supplied most of the pieces at Les Bains Gardians, revealed to us that the table is a 2009 Mooi design by Anna Lindgren and Sofia Lagerkvist of Front Studio in Stockholm. It’s called The Chess Side Table—yes, you can play chess on it. And the good news is it’s still in production.
The tables are made of lacquered wood, steel, and MDF and are $1,189.60 from Moooi and other retailers, including Lumens. You can also find the tables on resale sites, such as Chairish.
The Newcomer
Above: Entremets, the latest Art Deco-inflected furniture collection from Hauvette & Madani, includes Le Damier (The Checkerboard), which the designers report is an homage to the little checked tables at Les Bains Gardians (like us, they had assume they were vintage). Hauvette & Madani’s is the couture version: it’s handmade of Macassar ebony and sycamore marquetry and is available in custom sizes; prices on request.Above: Le Damier with other pieces from Hauvette & Madani’s Entremets collection. Each comes numbered and signed.
