Tom met Eric-Charles Donatien in 2017. Eric is one of Paris’s few remaining plumassiers – in the eighteenth century there were hundreds – and an absolute master of his craft, working with all of the great fashion houses – Alexander McQueen, Yves Saint Laurent, Gianni Versace etc. and making feathered creations for such modern day luminaries such as Beyoncé, Kim Kardashian and Nicole Kidman.
When Eric met Tom he was Eric immediately struck by a quality that Tom’s furniture shared with his beloved feathers: the seamless combination of form and functionality. “I was mesmerised by the lines” he says, “the perfection of what are, to me, his very natural designs. They seem almost obvious because they are so perfect, like great music.”
He was also drawn to the tactile qualities of Tom’s pieces and what he describes as their “emotional vocabulary”.
The admiration was mutual, so Tom and Eric sat down to discuss doing a project together. Eric drew up a shortlist of ten Faulkner pieces he might like to work with, before whittling it down to two: the iconic Capricorn table and the Tiffany Chair. The results of the collaboration were unveiled on Thursday 20th September 2018, during London Design Week.
Both are available to order, price on application. To find out more about the collaboration go to our and to find out more about the amazing Eric Charles Donatien and the world of working with feathers go here to this article in the New Yorker magazine which came out in 2018.
We love this piece because it is incredibly beautiful and striking and combines so much craft with modern technology. The depth of Eric’s knowledge and skill is astounding and it was wonderful to have him in our lives for those few weeks in August 2018. Hw is one of the most energetic and life enhancing people you could meet! He started his part of the process in Paris and then came to our workshop where he worked with our team to complete the project. The results were sensational.