About the galerie

Immersed in the art world from his earliest years, Victor Gastou grew up among artists, decorators and antique dealers. “As a boy, at the weekend I did not go to football, I followed my father to the flea markets, to exhibitions and to auctions,” he recalls. “Yves even had me restoring antique furniture. He passed on his passion for objects to me.”

After beginning his career in strategy and development between Madrid, London and Shanghai, within a multinational, Victor Gastou — eager to work on a more human scale — joined the family gallery in 2008, at the age of 26. “I spent five years learning alongside my father, then five more developing the gallery internationally; we have taken part in the major fairs ever since (PAD London, Design Miami, Maze Basel and others). Over time we built a deep understanding: the gallery became our shared adventure.”

After his father’s death in 2020, Victor Gastou took over. He has since championed artists of his own generation, such as Omar Chakil, Emmanuel Jonkers and Harumi Klossowska de Rola. “While I am drawn to formally flamboyant pieces, I value natural materials, gesture, the hand of the artist.” The gallery stands out for the eclecticism of its choices, between major names of the past and emerging talent. “I work on instinct — encounters, discoveries and things I fall for are what drive me.”

A major figure in the world of design, Yves Gastou (1948–2020) had the eye of a true pioneer and the daring of those who move ahead of their time. From his early career in southwest France, his path led him on to the historic Saint-Ouen flea market, then to Paris, where in 1985 he opened his gallery on rue Bonaparte, in a striking interior designed by Ettore Sottsass — his only architectural project realized in France.

From early on, Yves Gastou freed himself from hierarchies and trends. He contributed to the rediscovery of the great French decorators of the 1940s, from André Arbus to Gilbert Poillerat, while bringing a new perspective to Italian design through Gio Ponti, Carlo Mollino, and Ettore Sottsass. He also introduced Parisian audiences to designers still little known in France at the time, among them Shiro Kuramata and Ron Arad.

His eye moved across periods, materials, and cultures with a rare freedom: the refined alongside the radical, the baroque alongside the pure, historic works alongside contemporary creations. An insatiable collector as much as a dealer, Yves Gastou did not seek to follow taste but to provoke it. From this intuition, these unexpected juxtapositions, and this fascination with powerful objects came a way of looking at things that has become inseparable from his name: the "Goût Gastou."

The gallery was the first in 1980s Paris to exhibit the radical, colourful furniture of Ettore Sottsass. That interest in sculptural furniture is one Victor Gastou now carries through the poetic work of the ceramic artist Agnès Debizet. On a more historical note, he is bringing back the ascetic furniture of Jean Touret (1926-2004). “I have a romantic view of design; I am moved by pieces that question, with a leaning towards pared-back proposals — my father, for his part, had a baroque temperament. I am sensitive to right proportions, to noble materials, to a great quality of execution.”

From his father, Victor Gastou also inherited a readiness for enthusiasm, a taste for bold bets and a flair for promising talent. Among the latest creators to join the gallery, Christophe Brunnquell is a pioneer in the use of artificial intelligence for furniture design. Victor Gastou champions furniture with an author’s voice, strong pieces able to win over discerning collectors. Over the years, the talents of Galerie Gastou have thus entered the collections of institutions such as MAD Paris, the Centre Pompidou and the National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto.

A human-sized structure, the gallery stays close to its artists — and to its clients too — in a relationship built on trust, tailored advice and the passing on of knowledge. A genuine anchor point, the gallery at 12 rue Bonaparte is a place of sharing. Betting on emotion rather than theoretical discourse about the object, Galerie Gastou has made atmospheric staging a speciality from the outset, both within its walls and at international fairs. Galerie Gastou takes part in Design Miami and Design Miami.Paris, Maze in Basel and Gstaad, Nomad Abu Dhabi, and PAD London and Paris.

“Our presentations are never museum-like; they are meant to summon the imagination. It may be a solo show around one artist, or a theme drawn from travels that brings works by different talents into dialogue, often in contrasting styles.”

Text by Cédric Saint André Perrin

Paris, 6th arrondissement

11am - 1pm & 2pm - 7pm