ART & DESIGN

Gallery Arte Dakar was created in 1996 by Joëlle le Bussy, in Dakar, Senegal. There is also a succursal in Saint-Louis of Senegal. The galleries present African Contemporean Art & Design.

Objects and furniture are created by Joëlle le Bussy. She is a renowned designer of African-inspired home decor. She mixes African and European styles, a reflection of her personality as she is herself of African and European descent.

Hence, by mixing African-European designs and the know-how of Senegalese cabinetmakers from Casamance, Joëlle is able to create contemporean design.

She uses different African precious wood species to create a patchwork or motifs on the furniture. The furniture and objects are created as unique pieces or in a limited series. There are no large industrial scale manufacturing of furniture and objects in Senegal and each piece is done by hand. production will be done one by one and each piece will have its own personality.It is also possible to realize custom-made furniture and objects by adapting to the requirements of the client.

There are 2 different styles of furniture :

Contemporean mixed with traditionnal. Recycling old ethnic doors (Baoulé, Dogon, Bamoun) to create cabinets.

Contemporean with African precious woods.

The woods

The types of wood used are noble species coming from legally recognized plantations and all have legal certificates. They are coming from the whole African continent: Gabon, Cameroun, Senegal (Casamance), Ghana, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire. The species of wood used are “linké”, “dimb”, “vène”, “fraké”, “movingué”, “padouk”, “bête”, “dibétou”, “teck”, “sipo”, “sapléli”, “wengué”, “mbossé”, “framiré”, etc… Some species of wood are very rare such as “ébène” or ”ronier” do not come from plantations, but are rather reclaimed wood, organic, that already fell to become firewood. These wood species are used for handicraft rather than burned, with an authorization of the Waters and Forestry Services, after a communal decree.

All the woods are fumagated and treated against xylophages.