Based in Provence in the South of France, Ekilux was born of Sebastien Sauze’s desire to relaunch production of the iconic slatted aluminium lamps designed by his father Max Sauze at the end of the 1960s.

Since their inception, these lamps have never lost their relevance to contemporary design. Like a small Renaissance, they bridge the gap between the innovative 70s, when designers were bursting with creativity, and today’s globalised economic market.

The name EKILUX – made up of ‘equi’ and ‘lux’, meaning balance and light – expresses the quest for harmonious equilibrium between form, proportion, materials and surface effects, which work together to yield a particular quality of light. Each of these four elements has its own values, characteristics and limits, alone and in interaction with the others.

Max Sauze has achieved total mastery over these elements. For over 60 years he has been conceiving, designing and creating all kinds of shapes in a multiplicity of materials. These forms are sometimes devoid of any reference or connotation – they are what they are, simply: objects of mystery and beauty, allowing the viewer’s imagination free rein – or they can give playful, sometimes poetic, expression to his associations with a subject, a sentence, an expression, a thought or a pun. Like sculptures, Max Sauze’s lamps are designed to be always beautiful, whether they are lit or not.

In the same spirit, Sebastien Sauze decided his work would also marry art with craftsmanship. His values arise from his deep feeling for his materials. Like the wood smoothed by the experienced hands of a cabinetmaker, metal also needs to be mastered to reveal its hidden alchemy; it has a past. The highly skilled production at the heart of Sebastien’s workshop is essential to the finished object. Everything is done by hand, from raw material to transformation into a completed object, in a series of deft operations that can run into the thousands on larger models.

Each stage in making a lamp requires a great deal of time, sufficient space – and passion. The many soldered joints must be solid, yet supple. Getting the temperature just right requires long experience, as does managing the many constraints imposed by the electro-chemical treatments. Mechanical tools are faithful companions. Often designed for a very specific purpose, each tool continues to evolve in response to the artisan’s needs as he constantly seeks to improve his workmanship. The shapes are varied, unfolding in a spatial geometry where the form they take becomes self-evident.

Drawing inspiration from the workings of nature which follow the path of least resistance, Sauze endeavours to reproduce its methods. From relative disorder emerges organisation, through a process of repetition, sorting and alignment. A certain form of beauty is born, as viewed through the eyes of our culture.

To meet our customers’ varied needs, our range extends from small bedside lamps, through table lamps and floor lamps, to chandeliers with a one-metre diameter. The aluminium range comes in both matte and glossy finishes, with either the vivid light of the colourless “Silver” and “Salmon”, or the warmer ambiance of the glowing “Copper” and “Golden” models. This wide range means SAUZE lamps are a perfect fit for any interior, whether contemporary or traditional, and it is through their sculptural identity that they can be recognised anywhere.

Max SAUZE

Portrait Max Sauze

Sculptor, designer
Visual artist, was born in 1933 in Algeria. He first attended the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Alger between 1953 and 1956, and then went on to study at the famous ECOLE CAMONDO in PARIS (1956-59).

During the early 1970s, MAX SAUZE quickly established his own immediately recognisable style through the construction of bent aluminium strips on steel wire structures.
Max Sauze, works on the multiplication of form. From a base which is replicated out in all dimensions, the structure takes form referencing the process of life. Through simplification, removal of the superfluous, his work is a return to what is deemed essential.
He is today recognised internationally for his work.

 

Debuts of the 60s, Max Sauze, of return of Algiers, settles down near Aix-en-Provence, to ÉGUILLES. His artist’s life continues, he has to resume what he left on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea. From elements of aluminum, he develops geometrical forms, which quickly will integrate some lighting. From 1968, the production knows a creativity and a lightning growth. Pioneer in this mode of aesthetics, the company ” Max Sauze ” develops.

The first lounges bring a commercial success until be copied. The sphere of influence of of seventie appropriates of new materials: plastics and steels get into the modern homes(foyers). It is quite naturally that the aluminum makes its appearance. Skillfully shaping, Max Sauze creates in a few years a whole series of lamps: suspensions, wall lamps, lamps to be put. Some look like more sculptures than in lamps, they will take the naming of bright sculptures. Particularly “Cassiopée”, created for the conference hall of Aix-en-Provence in huge size, to be then declined in smaller versions for the private market.

“Orion”, by his timeless shape quickly become a best-seller.

The marketing extends in Europe, then in the USA and Canada.
The end of 1970s with the appearance of halogen lamps is a turning point in the lamp. It is the end of the chandeliers, the suspensions and other blocking objects. We appreciate the small spots, the discretion, the yield. The market of the lamp aluminum gets out of breath and disappears replaced by the technology.

Max Sauze turns(shoots) then to other creations.

There is sculptor and artist in the soul and continues the work in innovative and surprising realizations, often against preconceived ideas.
His direct environment metamorphoses according to its vision. His garden takes shape and trains and becomes an active support of the works. Sculptures and vegetable occupy the space in a subtle mixture, we do not know which was before the other one there.
Classified by the Ministry of Culture as the ” remarkable garden “, he is opened to the public.

But the story continues.
Today, we republish certain models, those who remain the most representative of time. And not to stop there, we fancy to move forward?; the sculpture is infinite. We create new forms, new models, and make share to the current public our creative enthusiasm lives our most beautiful reward.

Sébastien Sauze 2012