Longchamp x Pierre Renart: Fluid Furniture Capsule at Milan Design Week

Fashion is nothing if not an amalgamation of our cultural milieu, a sartorial expression of the world we live in that draws in and reflects. It’s this symbiotic connection that drove heritage handbag purveyor Longchamp’s latest creative venture: a furniture capsule imagined by Pierre Renart, a Paris-based designer, who unveiled the lineup in his Milan Design Week debut.

Renart, whose practice specializes in sculpted wood, was entrusted with translating his design vision through Longchamp’s iconic textile—a supple cowhide leather—resulting in the creation of the upholstered Wave bench and Ruban chair, both brought to life in a vibrant spring palette.

“Working with leather has long been a personal ambition, and doing so with Longchamp allowed me to explore that material with the highest level of precision and excellence,” says Renart. Marked by Renart’s masterful ability to capture wood’s dynamism, the capsule is on display at Longchamp’s Milan boutique through May 13.

Sophie Delafontaine, Creative Director of Longchamp, underscores the value of a fashion house’s interconnection with up-and-coming artists. Each project continues Longchamp’s mission to foster savoir-faire across all design studies.

Below, Teeth uncovers the design dialogue between Delafontaine and Renart, the minds behind the project.

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How did the collaboration with Longchamp come into fruition? How did your mutual creative processes lead you to the final project?

SOPHIE DELAFONTAINE: We discovered Pierre through his gallery, Maison Parisienne, which represents creatives who work with a chosen material—paper, wire, marble, or, in the case of Pierre, wood—at the intersection between art and artisanship. One of the pieces on display was a console by Pierre, which immediately appealed to us. Wood is a warm, natural, authentic material, just like leather, so there was a clear affinity with Longchamp. In Pierre’s work, it’s like the wood is dancing—the effect is light, supple, elegant, and full of energy.

PIERRE RENART: We started working together in the spring of 2021, with me creating bespoke pieces for Longchamp’s European boutiques in London and Paris. Longchamp felt a connection with the way I approach wood–giving it movement, lightness, and fluidity. When I had the idea to combine leather and wood – two noble, natural materials – Longchamp were the first people I wanted to speak to. From there, we worked hand in hand: I brought the artistic vision, and Longchamp brought their deep expertise in leather. The dialogue between us was fluid and intuitive.

 

Pierre, can you walk us through the creative journey behind the Wave leather bench and the Ruban chairs? With the individual uniqueness and bespoke elements to the pieces, what stories do they tell?

PR: The Ruban chair is a design I’ve had in my mind for over a decade: a form I’d long envisioned but had not yet fully resolved from a technical perspective. This collaboration offered the perfect opportunity to finally bring it to life. Each chair is upholstered in a different color, reflecting the palette of Longchamp’s spring handbag collection, and together they create a chromatic dialogue that is individually distinct, yet harmonious as a whole. Importantly, the creation of chairs—objects that must balance function and form—holds particular weight in my field. They are often considered a benchmark for designers, so this moment represents a true milestone in my practice.

Monumental in scale, the Wave bench is sculpted from a single 7-metre-long ribbon of wood, partially upholstered in a deep mahogany-toned leather. It’s a work that embodies the savoir-faire I’ve developed over decades and expresses the conversation between our signature materials: wood, for me; leather, for Longchamp. Wood is often seen as rigid and unyielding, so I hope this piece surprises by revealing the evolving possibilities of materials through innovation.

 

Fashion often takes cues from design, architecture, and other studies within the art world. What does the interplay look like in context, and can you discuss how you found mutual inspiration and alignment within your respective practices?

PR: This collaboration marked a turning point—it invited me to reimagine my practice through a different lens. Furniture and fashion are distinct, but they share a dedication to functionality, materiality, and craftsmanship. Working with Longchamp’s leather challenged me to push my techniques, to preserve the lightness of my forms while integrating a completely new material.

Having my pieces placed within Longchamp’s fashion boutiques brings my work into a more immediate, everyday context. It opens up new audiences and creates unexpected encounters between the object and the viewer. I’ve always seen my pieces as functional sculptures, and in this setting, they live differently—alongside fashion, yes, but still with their own identity and expressive power. It’s made me more curious about future intersections between design and other disciplines.

SD: Pierre and I drew on our two respective worlds, which are united by the desire to magnify materials through craftsmanship. In our meetings, the idea was not to erase each other’s work, but to marry wood and leather as two creative signatures that would become one. The design is Pierre’s work, but I challenged him on a single point: to ensure that, even with the combination of materials, the pieces looked as light and fluid as if they had been executed in wood alone. I wanted him to keep the idea of movement, of the single, unbroken line. I also went to see him at his atelier to discuss the finish of the leather and lend Longchamp’s expertise in terms of cutting, dyeing, and so on.

We also worked together on the color palette. Pierre wanted to use Longchamp’s colors—the light green and the heritage dark green—which I appreciated. I was keen to take on board Pierre’s ideas, because a chair in your home is not the same as a bag on your shoulder. Each piece is unique, but I also wanted the different colors to look harmonious together, which is the approach I use when I’m working on Le Pliage. Ultimately, the color palette combines both of our worlds, both of our visions.

 

Sophie, how do you foresee Longchamp’s future endeavors in cementing itself in multidisciplinary spaces and making art more accessible?

SD: Our close connection with emerging or renowned artists is a way for us to constantly renew ourselves, as they encourage us to see the Maison through a fresh, avant-garde lens. There is also a strong dimension of visibility and support for young creators and craftsmanship. Sarah Morris, D’Heygere, and even Robert Indiana, to name a few—we are deeply committed to celebrating beauty and highlighting the work of many artists whose approach and values we share.

This commitment continues through a new collaboration with Constantin Riant, a young Paris-based ceramicist. A capsule collection will soon be unveiled, in June, once again shining a light on our shared “savoir-faire”. It’s a continuation of the Maison’s desire to celebrate craft in all its forms, and to give voice to a new generation of creators driven by passion and talent.

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Both designs will be showcased in Longchamp’s Milan flagship on via della Spiga from 7 April to 13 May, with the unique chairs only available to buy.