Design Fireplace Companion Set in Black Lacquered Metal and Polished Brass. France. Circa 1970.

This design fireplace companion set exemplifies the elegance of French decorative metalwork of the 1970s, combining two materials of contrasting aesthetic character — black lacquered iron and polished brass — to striking effect. The stand is composed of a circular brass base disc from which rises a polished brass upright terminating in a spherical connector and then a broad, generously proportioned flat disc that serves as the tool holder. The tools — a poker, a shovel, a brush, a pair of tongs and a stand — hang freely from this upper disc, their matt black lacquered shafts offering a bold chromatic contrast against the warm gold of the brass.

The most distinctive feature of the set is the treatment of the tool handles, each of which terminates in a closed loop or curl of lacquered metal. This detail, at once functional and ornamental, recalls the graphic vocabulary of the late 1960s and early 1970s, when French designers explored simplified geometric forms as an alternative to the naturalistic ornament of earlier periods.

The combination of polished brass and black lacquer is a hallmark of high-quality French domestic metalwork of the period, reflecting the influence of both the Italian design movement and the broader mid-century modern aesthetic that dominated French interior furnishing from the 1960s onward. The result is a companion set that is at once practical and sculptural, equally at home beside a period fireplace or in a contemporary interior.