Artist Statement
SidebySide founder and designer, Sophie Quéré breathes life anew into 19th and early 20th century French furniture.
A trained tapissier, Quéré’s period seating is imagined afresh with vibrant, attentively selected contemporary fabrics from world travel. Pieces are restored meticulously by hand in homage to centuries-old French upholstery techniques using natural materials.
SidebySide furniture and décor is at once unconventional and a testament to lasting quality and durability. Quéré’s inventive eye infuses pattern, color, and texture into sofas, benches, and footstools, creating a one-of-a-kind statement piece for the home. A modern bon vivant made in the traditional savoir-faire, the SidebySide collection is functional art. It’s bohemian-inspired, classically-derived, a style that moves freely across interiors.
The new SidebySide seating and throw collection is a limited series, sourced from France, and refashioned in Quéré’s New York City workshop. SidebySide creations are recognizable by Quéré’s disruptive eye, a burst of fun, colorful fabrics fused into elegant antiques. Each piece is completed with Quéré’s personal signature: a small button sewn on from a family treasury collected over generations.
Explore the SidebySide collection online.
Visit the showroom and connect with Sophie Quéré about your next piece of movable art.
About the Artist & Maker
Sophie Quéré
A descendant of a long line of fabric weavers from Charlieu, amid France’s historic silk weaving region of Lyon, Sophie Quéré’s zeal for textiles is as fundamental to the rich character of her creations as her own spirit.
A master artisan, Quéré received training in Paris as a tapissier. With an artist’s eye, she seeks out the forgotten furniture and furnishings of 19th century France with the purpose of bringing them back into the light for 21st century living. Internationally admired for beauty and refinement, such style once furnished residences all over Europe and Quéré’s meticulous workmanship and bohemian flare allows these pieces to be celebrated once again by giving them une nouvelle jeunesse.
Quéré’s savoir-faire in French upholstering carries on a tradition that is nearly unchanged since the 18th century. Pieces are enlivened with modern patterns, colors, and designs from textiles hand selected in France and travels afar.
Each piece is made and refurbished by hand, carefully selected for its quality and splendor. For the founder and artisan behind SidebySide, these are sleeping beauties and her artistic vision and taste meet no bounds in creating this one-of-a-kind and unexpected collection.
Through her artistic creations, Quéré shares the joie de vivre and conviviality of her native France. SidebySide harmoniously celebrates the past and the present by blending antique furnishings with contemporary fabrics, creating something altogether energetic and elegant, disruptive to the eye, a statement piece for the home.
In September 2017, SidebySide opened a workshop in New York City, offering this French collection for the first time in the U.S.