During Paris Design Week this September, Tai Ping will place a focus on a very special collection with an installation at its Place des Victoires showroom. Entitled “The Fifth Wall,” it was developed to celebrate the 90th anniversary of its American subsidiary, Edward Fields, and named for an expression coined by the firm’s eponymous founder.

The new exhibition brings together the eight rugs from the collection, along with a selection of lighting and vases by the Parisian design duo, Garnier & Linker, whose work is based on age-old craft techniques. “What drew us to Garnier & Linker was a shared belief in the value of craftsmanship and complete creative integrity”, says Sarah Henry, Managing Director, Tai Ping EMEA. “Like Tai Ping, they oversee every stage of production within their own atelier, pursuing the highest standards of quality while celebrating the unique character of each piece. Beyond these affinities, we share a contemporary design sensibility rooted in historical references. It was therefore a natural choice to invite Garnier & Linker into a dialogue around The Fifth Wall, bringing a distinctive perspective to a collection conceived as a tribute to New York.”

The Garnier & Linker creations that will converse with the rugs also hark back to the past. They consist largely of lighting designs from their Itys and Fovea collections, made from lost-wax glass paste—a technique that dates back to Ancient Egypt. “It’s typically used in sculpture to create pieces in solid glass, which produces a quite striking light,” notes Guillaume Garnier, who founded the firm in partnership with Florian Linker. The subtle, iridescent colours and graphic lines of their sconces, table lamps and floor lamps will not only provide an intriguing interplay with the geometric motifs of the rugs, but also an additional nod to New York. “Glass is something you find pretty much everywhere in the city,” says Garnier. “It’s a constant in the cityscape.”

Photo credit: Tai Ping