Imagine a place in the Mediterranean — where North Africa meets Europe meets the Middle East — and a time that can’t quite be determined, and you’ll get a feel for the latest collection from the Parisian architecture and design studio Ebur. Racha Guttierez and Dahila Hojeij Deleuze, who founded Ebur in 2020, conjure their respective cultures and histories in their designs: The two of them grew up in Côte D’Ivoire — Ebur means ivory in Latin ­— and the childhood friends spent their summers in Lebanon before going on to study architecture in Paris. Ebur’s first release of furnishings, last year, drew inspiration from their early memories of the seaside. This second act builds on that and continues an elegant exploration of form and material.

The notion of a palimpsest – a new iteration where the older layers are visible beneath the surface, whose history may not be completely legible but lingers on in traces – helps describe what Ebur is doing. Their collection of furniture and lighting acknowledges what has come before but also doesn’t feel beholden to it. Grandmotherly flounces and flourishes — passementerie like tassels and cord trimming on lighting and chairs — feel modern here. As does velvet, in Ebur’s Visconti and Kola armchairs. With its bolster and a kind of ornamental formality combined with a glamorous ease, the Visconti evokes the opulence the Italian director interrogated in The Leopard and Senso. Raw silk also seems renewed with the suspended Samarcande light. The ziggurat-like angles of the Palmyre side table outline what’s missing while also calling it to mind.

And it’s the little things that count. Details include a white lacquered hourglass-shaped pull on the octagonal Otto nightstand, which is available in two sizes, in an oak or walnut veneer. The Camel coffee table curves like its namesake while also echoing waves and sand dunes. The Sissi box, made of palm wood and a hammered bronze handle, is just waiting for treasures. The shell-like appearance of the stoneware and enamel Coquillage wall lamps contrasts beautifully with the stricter geometries of the Etel wall light. As a whole, Ebur’s collection has a depth that’s hard to put your finger on — Art Deco touches morph into something else beyond that period, and classical, ancient shapes become contemporary — which is exactly why it’s so appealing.