Petite Friture is a French brand that produces elegant and affordable designer accessories, lamps and furniture. In 2009, Amélie du Passage, founder and artistic director, decided to indulge her passion for design, abandoning a promising career in the cultural sector. She graduated from the HEC business school in Paris and began her career at the Ministry of Culture before joining FIAC - International Contemporary Art Fair - as an exhibition manager. Encounters with emerging Parisian designers prompted her to formulate a daring and, in some ways, innovative project based on identifying unexpressed talent and reliable manufacturing partners. This is how Petite Friture was born. As the founder explains, the name evokes "a thrill, a vibration, a creative ferment, similar to the pleasure one feels during a good lunch with family or friends". The brand is a container of ideas, a collective workshop, even before it is a company. Petite Friture's mission is to offer beautiful, high-quality, affordable objects and furniture whose values are based on optimism, sharing, and freedom of expression. Values and mission unite partners in over 30 locations throughout Europe and the many designers who have collaborated with the brand since its inception. They include Pierre Favresse, Noé-Duchaufour-Lawrance, Constance Guisset, India Mahdavi, Studiopepe, to name a few. Today, Petite Friture has a selected distribution network in over 30 countries, including the United States.
The iconic Petite Friture collections
In just a few years, the brand produced several iconic collections starting with the Vertigo pendant lamp designed by then-newcomer Constance Guisset - the first object put into production. Today, the fixture is exhibited in the permanent collections of MoMA in New York and MAD (Musée des Arts Décoratifs) in Paris. It was a daring project, aiming to create a large but light and airy fixture. The wavy shade consists of a thin circular profile and a series of rods arranged radially around the lamp. Vertigo is available in six colour variations and two sizes. Another iconic product is Tidelight, a floor lamp designed by Pierre Favresse, inspired by car headlights. The blown glass shade diffuses light by diffraction thanks to its unique texture, while its balloon-like shape and cork base makes it distinctive and original. The Cherry collection of pendant lamps created by the Australian duo Daniel - Emma is characterised by a poetic and delicate interplay of the simple geometries of the cone and the sphere. Available in 5 colour variants, Cherry comes in a single version, on a track with 3 elements and on a disc with 5 elements at different heights. The Mediterranea lamp collection is inspired by lace curtains, the metal shade characterised by delicate openwork. The brainchild of Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance, Mediterranea is available in pendant, wall, floor and table versions in white and brushed brass. Among the iconic realisations in the Petit Friture catalogue is Tom Chung's Fromme chair, characterised by excellent ergonomics. Inspired by bicycle saddles, the Canadian designer placed shock absorbers between the seat and the base, giving it unparalleled comfort.
Petite Friture furniture and accessories - contemporary and accessible design
The Petit Friture catalogue offers a range of contemporary and accessible furniture and accessories. Their unique and never-predictable style has contributed to the brand's now-unmistakable aesthetic. For example, the Week End garden furniture collection designed by the Brichet Ziegler studio displays a highly original graphic style, with the oval backrest framing a striped pattern. In addition to its design, the series, with a powder-coated aluminium frame, stands out for its functionality, comfort and durability’s. The collection includes an armchair, stool, two types of benches, a food trolley, and coffee and bar tables. The palette’s 9 trendy colours are fresh and contemporary. From the collaboration with designer India Mahdavi comes Parrot, a colourful metal table that reinterprets the codes of industrial design thanks to its shape and enamelled steel top and star-shaped base. The brand also forged a fruitful relationship with the Milanese duo Studiopepe, enriching the catalogue with Unseen, a technical system of curved modular LED light tubes that can be combined at will – vertically or horizontally, suspended or wall-mounted. Petite Friture also offers accessories and decorative items like ornaments, mirrors, cushions, wallpapers and table accessories. Among the wallpapers, the Jungle collection by Tiphaine de Bodman is characterised by a light black and white graphic pattern.
