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Hugo Besnier – Sculpting Emotion Through the Art of Touch

Hugo Besnier – Sculpting Emotion Through the Art of Touch October 23, 2025Interior Design, ParisOff

Tour de Mains – When Craft Becomes Emotion

– by Shari Inessa for What We Adore

There are moments in Paris when the city itself seems to breathe a little slower – when time softens and beauty takes on the rhythm of silence. That was the feeling I had stepping into Hugo Besnier’s new exhibition, Tour de Mains, presented under his label Hartis, on the sunlit Quai Anatole France.

It wasn’t a conventional design presentation. It felt like entering someone’s soul. The soft light of the apartment fell on sculptural forms that seemed alive – consoles, tables, armchairs, and lights that whispered rather than shouted. There was no distance between the object and the maker. Each curve, each polished edge, carried a trace of the human hand, of patience, of love.

Hugo Besnier is only in his twenties, yet his work feels timeless – as if he were translating an ancient language into modern design. His sensitivity is extraordinary. The way he handles leather, for instance, is almost alchemical. He has managed to transform it into something so supple, so fluid, that you no longer recognise it as leather. It becomes something else – a second skin for objects, a living material that remembers touch.

Everything in this collection is born from gesture. You can sense the weight of thought behind each proportion, the respect for balance and breath. The collection – over thirty new pieces – evokes a dialogue between strength and tenderness, between architecture and poetry. The materials converse quietly: wood meets glass, stone meets metal, leather softens steel. Nothing feels rigid, everything breathes.

Besnier’s universe is deeply sensual. His furniture is not designed to dominate a space, but to inhabit it – with grace, humility, and presence. Each creation holds a rhythm, a heartbeat. Standing before them, I found myself tracing invisible lines with my eyes, as if reading a secret script written in light and texture.

The presentation itself was curated like an act of devotion. The space was filled with works by artists and galleries who share his sense of emotional precision – paintings from Almine Rech, delicate glass by Sophie Lou Jacobsen, rare pieces from Félix Marcilhac and Hélène Bailly. The dialogue between all these elements created an atmosphere both intimate and transcendent. One could feel the weight of tradition, and yet the purity of something completely new.

As I wandered through, tea was being poured – a Korean infusion served in fine porcelain – and the air carried the scent of polished wood. The experience was almost ceremonial, as though we were all invited to pause, breathe, and remember what it means to feel beauty rather than just look at it.

Hugo Besnier’s Tour de Mains is not a collection; it is a meditation on creation itself. A reminder that true craftsmanship is not about decoration, but devotion. It’s about listening – to the material, to the silence between gestures, to the life that emerges from restraint.

As I left, sunlight touched the pieces one last time, revealing the softness of a leather curve, the shimmer of brass against pale oak. And I realised that Besnier’s talent lies not just in what he makes, but in what he allows us to feel.

There are few designers capable of transforming matter into emotion. Hugo Besnier is one of them.

Tags: Almine Rech, artisanal furniture, collectible design, contemporary craftsmanship, craftsmanship redefined, design poetry, Félix Marcilhac, French artistry, French savoir-faire, handmade furniture, Hartis, Hélène Bailly, Hugo Besnier, Interior Design, luxury interiors, modern artisans, Paris Design Week, Paris exhibition, poetic design, Sophie Lou Jacobsen, Tour de Mains, What We Adore