Elizabeth Garouste (b. 1946) French

Elizabeth Garouste (born in Paris in 1946) is a French artist and designer whose work has profoundly shaped the history of contemporary design. After studying at the École Camondo, she turned to interior architecture before collaborating with Gérard Garouste on several scenographic projects, notably for Le Palace, a major centre of Parisian artistic and cultural life in the late 1970s. It was in this context that she met Mattia Bonetti, with whom she went on to form one of the most emblematic duos in French design.

From the 1980s onwards, Garouste & Bonetti developed a distinctive visual language that broke with the prevailing functionalism and minimalism of the time. Drawing inspiration from the Middle Ages, non-Western art, Surrealism, fairy tales, and the decorative arts, they revived materials such as wrought iron, bronze, and parchment, creating furniture in which each piece possesses a narrative dimension. Works such as the Chaise Barbare, the Chaise Prince Impérial, and the interiors created for Christian Lacroix are now considered among the major works of collectible design.

From the early 2000s onwards, Elizabeth Garouste pursued an entirely personal practice. Rather than simply extending the aesthetic of the duo, she developed a more intimate universe in which drawings, sculptures, masks, tapestries, lighting, and furniture interact with the same formal freedom. Often made by hand, her works give rise to an imaginary fauna populated by hybrid figures, vegetal creatures, and characters emerging from a deeply poetic inner world.

Drawing occupies a central place in this practice. Created without preparatory sketches, her drawings directly inform her sculptures, furniture, and objects. Wrought iron, resin, ceramics, and plaster become natural extensions of her graphic gesture. Elizabeth Garouste readily embraces the position of a craftsperson, privileging making, materiality, and experimentation over a strictly industrial approach to design.

Alongside her artistic practice, in 1991 she founded the association La Source with Gérard Garouste, an organisation that uses artistic creation as a means of engaging children and people experiencing social vulnerability. This human dimension has accompanied her practice for more than thirty years.

Since 2024, Ketabi Bourdet gallery has supported this new period of her work through solo exhibitions, international art fairs, and extensive research dedicated to her recent creations. Following Escapades, the gallery presents Au fil de l'eau, its second solo exhibition devoted to Elizabeth Garouste, bringing together her drawings, masks, and furniture inspired by the marine world.