By Scott Bay
Photography by Anette Apel and Chloé le Mestre
In a time of design obsessed with spectacle, the Charpentier endures as a masterstroke of understatement. The table is Liaigre at its most distilled: elemental, architectural, and remarkably refined. Created in the 1990s and reissued for release this October in a new expression, this elegant yet monumental table remains one of the purest examples of the house’s enduring ethos.
Christian Liaigre, the late French designer who founded the studio, rose to prominence by stripping interiors of excess, instead focusing on a sense of serenity and necessity. His work—marked by natural materials and exacting craftsmanship—shaped everything from beachfront villas to megayachts to Manhattan penthouses. He brought a uniquely French sensibility, similar to the country’s eponymous couture houses, to the global home design stage, defining what would come to be known as “quiet luxury” decades before it became a buzzword.
The Charpentier sits at the heart of this legacy. “It perfectly embodies some of the essential values of Liaigre, a permanent appreciation for simplicity and a serious consideration of needs and functions, which in turn dictate forms,” says Bertrand Thibouville, the house’s senior creative director for interior design projects and collection since 2010. Named for the French word for carpenter, the table was designed to serve a function above all else—however, in Liaigre’s hands, that function was elevated into a design masterpiece.
The new iteration enhances that lineage with a coal finish that reveals the grain of the oak, giving depth to its simple silhouette. “This beauty is born out of generous proportions, special attention to ergonomics, usability, and the touch and feel of materials,” says Thibouville. “It visually disappears in an interior and becomes the perfect coffee table for every use.” The table anchors a room without ever overtaking it: “Through its silence and discretion, it becomes indispensable.”
