How does a former footballer end up as an ambassador for one of the most revered art and design companies in the world?
Bellion first discovered Ymer&Malta while running a pop-up art piece of his own while in Bordeaux.
The former Manchester United striker reveals: “I saw something on the photos and it was love at first sight, of a shelf.
“It was a mix of the project and personal taste, and we stayed friends because we have a lot in common.
“After I thought if I could stay involved in Ymer&Malta, whatever I can do to help, I’ll do it.”
When back in Paris, he cycled to Valerie Maltaverne’s front door and had a long conversation with the brains behind the firm, eventually becoming good friends.
Ymer&Malta can be very loosely tagged as an avant-garde furniture designer, but the the creations are so specialised and made to the most precise specifications that they inhabit a world out of reach for most.
The former footballer, who cost Sir Alex Ferguson £2million in 2003, described Valerie as the “Banksy or Daft Punk” of the furniture world – everyone has seen her work, radical and visionary, and appreciated it, but no one knows she is the one behind it.
PART ONE David Bellion on how he came to work for ‘one of a kind’ art firm
“She is a mastermind,” Bellion says. “When you look at the piece you can see it. Whatever she does, it is with an obsession of perfection.
“It’s ultra, ultra, ultra perfection.
“Ymer&Malta… you could compare it to the Daft Punk of art. It’s like the house wears the helmet and nobody really knows who it is, but it’s the best.
“They’re not looking for glamour and publicity, or the bling bling. It is very raw, radical, underground.”
The house itself is design perfection, the kind of place you think would only exist in a magazine or Hollywood film.
Valerie says: “One day, he called me. I had absolutely no idea [he was an ex-footballer]. We had a discussion that was so, so nice.
After one or two hours, I asked him why he is here, how he knows Ymer&Malta.
“Now we are very good friends, I followed his life, he followed mine.”
Everything inside the house has been designed by Valerie, prototypes of pieces that will go on sale later – or head to museums, such is their perfection.
Each stunning piece has endured an exhaustive process to even reach the finished article.
The company have designed furniture and items for private collectors around the world, as well as huge companies such as Krug Champagne.
“For two years we work on one item,” Valerie says. “For the first year, we are working with the designer on the drawings. Only when it is completely perfect do we go into production.”
All the materials used are 100 per cent French, with a focus on combining old world methods with modern technology.
An Aubusson tapestry I saw, for example, has been designed on a tablet but will eventually be weaved with the same techniques they used in the 17th and 18th centuries.
They also own a robot that has full 360 degree motion to shape models – but will later rely on local blacksmiths, weavers, masons and carpenters to finish the design.
Valerie will travel to visit the craftsmen at least once a week to ensure everything is precise and on schedule.
Even the models she creates have to be 100 per cent representative of the finished product, one millimetre out means starting again.
The workmanship is so good – and so radically different – that many of the prototypes go on display as works of contemporary art.
A bench has recently been sent to the Pompidou – the Paris equivalent of the Tate museum – a collection of marble pieces have made their way to the Smithsonian and Noguchi Museums in New York City and there are other items in museums across Europe and the Far East.
David adds: “Valerie and Ymer et Malta is about the vision. It’s not like a normal design.
“She understands the [client] brief and what you need, she’s going to create something more than what you expect.
“It’s the house of perfection, if you look at the details.
“When you really like art, design, the expertise and the craftsmanship, mixed with modern technology, everything has a story.
“You see the beauty with your eyes, but when she tells you the story of how it’s made, you say ‘OK, wow’.”
David is clearly fascinated with Valerie and her way of working.
“If you look at the way she works you could say it is like OCD, but it is obsessional compulsive order, searching for perfection.”
Valerie, who produced films before turning to furniture, isn’t quite sure where her inspiration comes from, describing it as organic evolution.
“When you have an interest in something you dig,” she says, “you never give up until you have exactly what you want.
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“I hope I have more. It’s every day and night, your mind never stops.
“I think I will follow my work until my death.”
David adds: “The way she does things, it’s like a road where you just travel, not the motorway.
“Just the beautiful road on the side, where you will see things you want to see.”
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