Today, under the impetus of Denis Flageollet, founder and Master-Watchmaker of De Bethune, Reuge is opening up to contemporary creativity, welcoming the chance for a new lease on life, while respecting and enhancing its unique skills firmly rooted in its native soil over 150 years.
To bring this new energy to the brand, this fresh and sensitive touch, the team includes Clara Martin, a youthful designer driven by an insatiable curiosity for textures, shapes and expertise. Together with the men and women of the Manufacture based in the Swiss Jura town of Sainte-Croix who possess the sophisticated knowledge of mechanical music, they work on rare, precious objects offering a sensory and sensitive experience that is new, unique and surprising.
Above and beyond all the music of the world that is within reach, Denis Flageollet with Clara Martin’s help aims to transport mechanical music into an imaginary universe of mischief and fearlessness, reproducing the sincere and spontaneous childhood exhilaration that stimulates these lost states of wonder and innocence.
Energy, the fundamental material of true artworks?
Observe! Respect! Rethink! Explore! Their creative energy stimulates the reinterpretation of Reuge's themes, leading them towards new, more contemporary paths, in line with our current society and values. Our era responds less to the search for speed or artificial enhancements and more to a quest for true roots, for a more natural, soft, fresh and subtle inspiration.
By understanding material, by grasping the nature of movement, nurtured by the creation of unique experiences – whether private or shared – offering physical and sensorial interactions instilled by setting objects into motion, Denis Flageollet invites us to the poetic wonderment, the unexpected enchantment of sound mechanics.
Auditory research pursued from all angles
Because here we are at the very heart of the matter. The unconstrained exploration of the sound instrument. Music, but much more than that! Wind, breath, sounds of Nature, animal life, plant life... their boundless inspiration represents the new starting point for Reuge.
This represents a whole new freedom of expression! A new field of exploration! Mechanical Sound. One that only four artisans still master. This ancestral manual skill, this knowledge unique in the world and which must endure. Denis Flageollet is doing his utmost to restore Reuge to its rightful place as the enchanting pearl of Swiss art mechanics.
A whole new take on the emblematic birdcage!
The "birdcage". Reinventing, reinterpreting, revisiting this iconic piece of art mechanics: such was the choice made by Denis Flageollet as a way of pointing out Reuge’s future.
Its name? Liberté, as if echoing the renewed freedom enjoyed by the Manufacture.
The cage opens and adapts to its environment, allowing the songbirds to chirp and move freely. Perched on a rock next to a stretch of water, they talk, chat, converse... As if by magic, the forged metal branch supporting the tableau picks up the iconic profile of the Reuge birdcage.
The natural elements encircle and support this creation, lending it a more organic appearance. The digital watch function visible on the perimeter of the base, as well as the dial housed beneath the cage, also bring a new function. Finally, the various elements of the object are crafted using techniques already featured in ancient or modern art mechanics. Hanging in an entrance hall, it also evokes the famous vestibule clocks adorning beautiful 18th century residences.
Thus diverting existing codes, modifying dimensions and changing applications allows the unexpected to emerge. The story of the scene unfolding before observers’ eyes invites them to give free rein to their imagination.
Nature is magnified and the object is inspired by it without artificially imposed constraints. It retains mechanical and technical codes while exploring a correlation – rather than a confrontation – with its environment. In short, a reinterpretation of codes adapted to a resolutely contemporary vision.
