” Go ! » The voice of Hervé Lemoine resounds under the glass roof of the imposing Perret reserve, at the headquarters of the Mobilier national, in the 13e Parisian arrondissement, where four centuries of the taste of powerful men (rarely women) for the decorative arts are exhibited, from Louis XIV to the present day: Murat’s bed, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing’s or Vincent Auriol’s desk, the Jack Lang’s armchair… So many symbolic objects from this establishment, the Republican heir to the Crown Furniture Storehouse created in 1663 by Louis XIV and Colbert, the purpose of which is to work on the design and conservation of tens of thousands of pieces of furniture and objects for public buildings.
On this September 8, the president of the Mobilier national attends the assembly of the “Heritage of Tomorrow”. Workers are busy putting their feet up and then fitting in the modules of a 13.40 meter long table called Medulla, “marrow”, in Latin. She will be the silent witness of one of the most famous behind closed doors in France: the Council of Ministers. Weekly place of fantasies, secrets and often boredom. It was to be presented to Emmanuel Macron, Wednesday September 14, at the Elysée Palace, ahead of Heritage Days, September 17 and 18, where it will be visible to the public.
Assembled and disassembled in 30 minutes
Depending on the specifications, the furniture can be installed or dismantled in less than thirty minutes. The ballet of meetings and receptions at the palace presupposes maximum room availability. Hervé Lemoine stresses. Medulla was created on his initiative. After five minutes, the bet is won: the table holds its full length, ready to use. “I’m going to have to buy the champagne for the whole workshop…”, smiles the senior official at the culmination of a project launched in 2019, a year after his arrival at the head of the institution.
At the time, the president of the Mobilier national was moved by Emmanuel Macron at the crude look of the “skirted table” of the Council of Ministers: simple planks covered with a tablecloth, placed on trestles. Since Charles de Gaulle, no one has thought of creating a dedicated one. “It’s a bit of a stain”, Lemoine breathes. ” I agree. The Mobilier national has never offered me better,” the Macron spade.
A competition is launched with young students of applied arts to imagine the first table of the council of ministers in history. The National Furniture is a place of creation, not just a conservatory; in 1964, André Malraux, at the time Minister of Culture, had created within it the Research and Creation Workshop in order to outdo the pawn of the all-powerful Italian design. Generations of designers have participated in the furnishing of public buildings, starting with the designer Pierre Paulin, at the Elysée, at the time of Georges Pompidou, then François Mitterrand.
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