Since 2020, Charles Zana has developed an evolving collection of around a hundred signature furniture designs, each bringing its own character to a room. Its origins are personal: his father went looking for furniture as others go fishing. Objects entered his life early, along with the pleasure of finding them and learning to look. A collector before he became a designer, Zana follows the French tradition of architects who create furniture for their interiors.
Many pieces still carry the name of a client or a place, yet take on new meaning through the settings they enter and the lives they become part of. Generous proportions and ample curves create a sculptural presence; deep seats and rich velvets make it inviting. Visual comfort matters as much as physical comfort. Zana is attached to the domestic life of furniture: the familiarity that grows through daily use, the place a piece comes to occupy in someone’s life. These pieces
are elegant and easy to live with.
Exceptional materials are worked by French craftspeople, some collaborating with Zana for nearly thirty years. Wood grain, marble veining, lacquer and bronze finishes receive the same attention as the line of an armrest or the curve of a backrest. Precise construction, fine upholstery and bespoke adaptations complete the designs. Each has the character to stand independently of its original commission and sit naturally among other periods and styles. Ultimately, Zana wants his furniture to live without him: to leave the room it was drawn for, join someone else’s collection and become part of another life.
