Reviving a Stealth Classic: The Marolles Chair from Ed Clay

In 1947, French artist Jean Touret settled in rural Marolles, a village north of the Loire with just 450 inhabitants. There Touret founded the Artisans of Marolles, a small cooperative of friends, and began producing utilitarian oak and iron furniture. Despite the furniture’s commercial success in Paris and other European cities, the collective produced only a modest number of pieces (fewer than 100 of the dining chairs were produced, for instance).

In 2014, one of those chairs made its way to a design fair in San Francisco where Ed Clay, a furniture maker in Carneros, California, was taken with its rustic design and honest materials. He immediately contacted the Touret family and asked for their blessing to reproduce the chair; they accepted, and, working with his daughter Ariel (an alum of BDDW and currently working with Apparatus), Ed launched Furniture Marolles. Here’s a look at the line.

See more of the original Marolles furniture and workshop in France at Jean Touret.

For more furniture made in the Bay Area, see:

• Fundamental Furniture from Four/Quarter in San Francisco
• Flat-Pack Heirloom-Quality Furniture, Made in San Francisco
• Nomad Table by Jacob May Furniture