On the occasion of Design Miami. Paris, Galerie Gastou and Galerie Desprez-Breheret are once again joining forces to shine a light on the work of Jean Touret.

Having previously explored the art of woodworking — in particular his emblematic “honeycomb” motif, carved with a gouge and now a major reference in the decorative arts — the galleries look to reveal another dimension of his œuvre: that of wrought iron, brought together here under the theme of “The Age of Iron”.

Wood represents a foundational stage in Jean Touret’s journey. It was deep in the forest, while he was prisoner during the Second World War, that he found the resources necessary for his survival. In the ancient presence of trees and the raw force of matter, he drew an essential, intimate energy that would lastingly shape his relationship to creation. From this experience grew a profound attachment to wood, whose grains and textures he would celebrate throughout his life.

In continuing their exploration of Jean Touret’s work, the galleries shift the gaze from wood to iron, from solid matter to pure lines. Wood provided a sense of grounding — a source of memory, density, and a primitive relationship with the world. With wrought iron, a shift occurs. Mass becomes linear. Volume resolves into an outline. Incandescent metal becomes writing. What is at play here is no longer a matter of construction but rather of inscription: a gesture akin to calligraphy in space. The line thus becomes central — a direct gesture, reaching toward the essential.

Touret’s encounter with the blacksmiths of Marolles opened a new field of expression. In this demanding material, Touret refined a formal language grounded in rigor, elevation, and restraint. His work in iron reflects an almost Franciscan sensibility, in which the search for truth requires the elimination of the superfluous. Only the essential remains — a line, a tension, a presence — whose precision and universality give it its power.

Through a collection of pieces in wrought iron, created by the Artisans de Marolles as well as the craftsmen from the Loir-et-Cher, the galleries present a selection of vibrant works in which metal becomes language.

A body of work with a palpable presence, where the rigor of gesture meets a form of silent spirituality.

“The Age of Iron” thus offers a reading of Touret’s work as a movement toward essential form, with iron asserting itself as a language of the essential, guided by the pursuit of the "just" that always drove Jean Touret.