African Style Adapted and Filtered by French Eyes

Most decorating books delight the eye but ignore the soul. “African Style” is different.

It is part of a new series exploring geo-cultural influences in design. (A companion book released this summer is called “Asian Style.”) Rather than explaining heritage, the book focuses on how the African aesthetic has influenced the larger world of contemporary design.

“Africa does not exist,” novelist Stephane Guibourge writes in the opening line. “Just as some people maintain that love does not exist, only proofs of love, perhaps there are only stories about Africa, tales and legends spread by the griots, the marabouts and a handful of travelers and writers, like shadows on the prairie.”

He moves on to define the elements of African-influenced decor: not pattern and form, but “rain, wind, sun and warmth, sweltering heat, plains or forests, harvest and monsoons, celebrations, endless discussions . . . objects for life itself.”

The 144-page, picture-filled volume is a poetic design book published by Flammarion, translated from the French and produced in Paris. We are told that Guibourge has traveled to Africa often over a decade. Designer Annie Desgrippes scouted a mixture of African and African-inspired objects, furniture and textiles in Paris. Frederic Morellec did the photography.

Authentic wood jars made from black palm, a hollowed-out spoon from Niger and elaborate funeral masks are included in the elegant photography. Precious old bowls are displayed like 21st century art objects on a new waxed-steel tray. A bench bears the gouge marks of ancient craftsmen’s tools but was made by a modern furniture master. Creeping roots from Indonesia are presented as sculpture. Rough little candles are set out like rows of river stones.

The French passion for African style has a long history. The book notes that African art began to appear in French salons just after the turn of the century, well ahead of Josephine Baker. The Cubists borrowed. Modernist master Jean-Michel Frank reveled under its influence in the 1930s.

Today, leading French designers are reinterpreting an African sensibility in sophisticated contemporary furniture. A sturdy bench by Olivier Gagnere resembles the artistry of the Senufo people in Ivory Coast, we are told. Christian Liaigre is represented by a stool carved from a tree trunk, an example of African eternity. Christian Astuguevieille’s rope stools, Vincent Collin’s concrete bowls and Frederique Morrel’s wool felt are offered as well.

Natural materials remain essential: sisal, leather, stone, wood, roots, clay, tree trunks, stoneware, terra cotta. Nature also guides the form. Tools and technique turn everyday items into sculptures.