PURE: a celebration of a sculpture studio at Château La Coste

John Koga is a Honolulu-based sculptor and painter whose work ranges from small paintings to large sculptures and environmental installations. His work is featured in both museum and private collections and exhibited globally. Koga earned an MFA in ceramics and sculpture from the University of Hawaii and studied sculpture in Pietrasanta, Italy. He’s known for his abstract modernist aesthetic that conveys a sense of serenity, balance, and space inspired by the artists Isamu Noguchi, Saturo Abe, and Tadashi Sato. Koga has received several awards from the Honolulu Museum of Art and the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. Through his artwork, Koga strives to share the beauty of natural elements, including stone, the ocean, and the sky. Known for his work in marble and plaster, he was a natural fit to sculpt new furniture and lighting designs in Plasterglass, created in the PUCCI mannequin factory in Manhattan. He joined RALPH PUCCI in 2007.

Vladimir Kagan (1927-2016) was an early pioneer of modern design. A passion for architecture and sculpture is evident in his uniquely contemporary furniture. He was the first designer invited to sculpt fiberglass furniture in the RALPH PUCCI sculpting studio. Kagan’s limited-edition Gabriella bronze chair was the last piece he ever designed. He joined RALPH PUCCI in 2002.

Patrick Elie Naggar is a French artist, architect and designer who received his degree in Architecture from the Ecole des Beaux Arts and a Masters Degree in Urban Studies from the University of Paris. Naggar considers architecture (encompassing interior and furniture design) a central knowledge, a catalyst of the ideas, forms, plastic and artistic trends in order to create objects and spaces for our environment in the spirit of our times. Naggar received the prestigious best designer award in 2008 from the Foundation Center for Luxury and Creation Paris France. He joined RALPH PUCCI in 1995.

Award-winning interior and furniture designer Nina Seirafi is based in New York City and works with an international clientele. Her sophisticated designs reflect a cultivated elegance, a refined sensitivity to architectural detail and inventive use of natural materials. She is inspired by art, which is evidenced in her skillful manipulation of form, color and pattern. Her work is notable for its meticulous proportion, discipline and clean lines. Trained in Switzerland and a graduate of Parsons School of Design, Seirafi has been named to the AD100 list and received the Interior Design Magazine NYCxDESIGN Award in 2017 and in 2020. Seirafi joined RALPH PUCCI in 2017.

French designer Paul Mathieu is based in New York, Aix-en-Provence and India. He gained a reputation through both his international interior design projects as well as his product designs for companies like Ecart International. Graceful lines and elegant modernism are hallmarks of Mathieu’s work, especially in noble materials like bronze. His furniture combines the unassuming harmony of nature, blending rich, sinuous curves with tailored geometry. He had a solo exhibit at the renowned Chateau La Coste in 2019. Mathieu joined RALPH PUCCI in 1999.

Lee F. Mindel, FAIA, Principal of Shelton Mindel & Associates, received his Master of Architecture from Harvard University in 1976 after obtaining his Bachelor of Arts, Cum Laude, with Distinction in Architecture, at the University of Pennsylvania. Mindel spent months as an artist-in-residence in the RALPH PUCCI (sculpture studio) working alongside our Master Sculptor to develop a design language attuned to the possibilities of PUCCI’s proprietary Plasterglass material for his debut collection of furniture and lighting. Mindel joined RALPH PUCCI in 2022.

Elizabeth Garouste was born in Paris in 1949. After her interior design studies at the Camondo School in Paris, she created theater sets for Jean-Michel Ribes before turning to design, which clearly informed her sensibility. In the late 1970s she met Mattia Bonetti and by 1980 the two were collaborating on furniture collections. Garouste and Bonetti quickly became some of the most sought after designers. Their innovative style and whimsical designs have been shown in numerous museums including the Victoria & Albert and Centre Georges Pompidou. She had her first solo exhibition upon joining RALPH PUCCI in 2014.

Stefan Bishop’s aesthetic was born from the rugged elements of the terrain and the raw materials of a homesteading life. Hand-drawn water, rough-sawn boards, orchards married with the forest and watching his father fell giant timber would leave lasting impressions that are revealed in his work to this day. At the heart of his endeavors are the forces of root, wood, earth and stone, which are expressed with outstanding craftsmanship and a vision that honors archetypal themes found in nature. Unfettered by the semantic distinction between art and design he moves freely in both realms. Whether serving a base utilitarian function or existing as purely sculpture, all of his work possesses the strength to penetrate conceptual and unspoken realms. He created his Los Angeles-based studio in 2012 and joined RALPH PUCCI in 2020.

Eric Schmitt was born in 1955. In 1997 he left Paris to live and work at the edge of the Fontainbleau forest. In his workshop, pieces are created, designed and shaped and then entrusted to the best craftsmen in France. His creations are produced and signed in limited edition, a modern execution of the French decorative arts tradition. He joined RALPH PUCCI in 2006.

Xavier Lust started his career as an industrial designer before he began to shape collectible limited-edition designs in 2006. He has created his own poetic language inspired by nature and the materials themselves. His creations leave an impression of harmony and strength, devised of his own innovative process of curving metal, imbued with a unique energy. Each piece is rare, combining Lust’s radical vision with the expertise of top European artisans. He is an award-winning designer whose creations are included in the permanent collections of prestigious institutions such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Lust joined RALPH PUCCI in 2017.

Parisian born and based Alexandre Logé spent his childhood exploring flea markets, a pastime that led him to pursue a degree in fine art and art history. Following studies at the Panthéon-Sorbonne University, he apprenticed at a furniture design studio where he learned mold-making and prototype building which gave him the framework which informs his own aesthetic. His attraction to African art is palpable; primitive art and designs from the 1940s are his great influences. His work often references bone-like forms, including his debut pieces, made in Plasterglass, for RALPH PUCCI, which he joined in 2020.

Olivier Gagnère is a master of modernizing classical forms, and his creations, which range from ceramics to furniture and lighting design, are sophisticated, imaginative, and always executed at the highest quality. After studying law, Gagnère decided to pursue his artistic passions and in the early 1980s, worked with the Memphis Group in Italy. In 1994, he was entrusted with designing the Marly café at the Louvre Museum in Paris, where he successfully combined his timeless creativity with a historic Napoleonic setting. Today, his work features in the collections of the world’s most prominent museums, including MOMA in New York, the Centre Pompidou, and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.

Ilkka Suppanen is celebrated for his continuous exploration of materials in contemporary Finnish design, and beyond. The breadth of his work ranges from industrial design, furniture, and lighting design to unique glass sculpture and fine art. Suppanen was a founding member of the groundbreaking collective Snowcrash (1997-2003), a group of creators who reframed the conventional image of Finnish design, using lightweight materials such as silvery nylon fabric, and integrating technology into furniture. The group was later hailed as the reinventors of Scandinavian design. Ilkka has exhibited work around the world, and now lives in Italy, with studios in Helsinki and Milan.