Claude Lalanne French, 1925-2019

Claude Lalanne was born in Paris in 1925 and died in Fontainebleau in 2019. A sculptor and designer of singular vision, her long career is closely entwined with that of her husband, François-Xavier Lalanne. From the 1960s, they worked together under the name Les Lalanne, with early commissions from figures like Yves Saint Laurent helping establish their reputation. Drawing loosely from Surrealism and Art Nouveau, she navigated a space between disciplines – fine art, fashion, and decorative design – without ever fully belonging to any. Her work is marked by a precise, almost scientific attention to botanical detail, using techniques such as moulding, impression, and electroplating to cast leaves, stems, and petals into bronze with an extraordinary fidelity.

While François-Xavier turned repeatedly to the animal world, Claude’s gaze was often fixed on the vegetal, and her ability to translate its delicacy into durable form remains unmatched. Her objects – tables, chairs, mirrors, jewellery – are both functional and fantastical, merging utility with dreamlike charm. They are not nostalgic, but quietly radical: refusing categorisation, resisting fashion, and suggesting that art might thrive in the everyday, if only we look closely enough.

Claude studied architecture in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts and the École des Arts Décoratifs. The Lalannes’ work is represented in many prominent collections around the world, including the National Design Museum, New York; Cooper Hewitt Museum, New York; Musée Nationale d’Art Moderne, Paris; Musée d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris; and the Centre Pompidou, Paris.