POMPEII-X by Jimmy Delatour x Galerie BSL – Courtesy of Galerie BSL.

Design. What if the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD had taken place centuries later? This imaginative thought experiment is at the heart of POMPEII-X, a striking design project by Jimmy Delatour, presented by Béatrice Saint-Laurent, founder and director of Galerie BSL, during Paris Design Week. The collection invites visitors to envision Pompeii not as a city frozen in the past, but as “a future relic.” As Delatour told Archipanic, it is “a place reimagined in another undefined, X, era.” In today’s age of AI and shifting realities, what if history itself could be re-crafted?

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POMPEII-X is a furniture series where ancient Roman aesthetics meet contemporary design. Picture bold consoles, a Roman-style daybed, a sculptural bench, and a coffee table—all shaped by taut geometries and radical lines. Instead of the vanished wood and metal of Pompeii’s furniture, Delatour works with noble stones, merging Brutalist strength with modernist spirit and a futuristic edge.

Crafted in Italy by Les Marbreries de la Seine—a French stone house with three generations of artisanal expertise—the collection features three carefully chosen natural stones. Their softly faded palette ranges from pale blond to deep green and muted pink, with honed or sandblasted finishes that appear as if patinated by time.

POMPEII-X seat by Jimmy Delatour; on the wall, a photo by Erieta Attali.

“I happened to visit the Pompei ruins as a child and as a teenager, and both visits left an incredibly strong imprint on me, both visually and emotionally.” Delatour shared with. “It was only a matter of time after maturing these experiences for me to find a way to translate my fascination for this lost city.”

The project also reflects Delatour’s thoughts on science and society today. “Recent discoveries at the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator hint at unknown processes in quantum physics, opening fresh ways of imagining reality—like parallel universes born from a single powerful event, such as the eruption of a volcano.”

At the same time, we are now empowering machines that can distort what we once held as fact-checked reality, explains the designer. “I believe we are losing ourselves in this technological race, where attention, impact, and speed—driving superficial economic growth—are valued more than truth, human creativity, and human labour. That is why I have chosen not to use A.I. in my work for as long as possible–though it might become inevitable at some point.”

Alongside the furniture, Artefacts unfolds as a series of wall works imagined as fictional relics. These altered objects and hybrid compositions feel like fragments of unfinished stories—remnants of lost cultures or glimpses of possible futures. Together, they spark reflection on time, fragile societies, and the blurred line between reality, history, and alternative narratives.

“The Artefacts in the POMPEII-X series are symptomatic of our time, blurring the line between what is true and what is not, disrupting our perception and our sense of reality. Like the marble pieces, they embody a paradox in time.”

All photos of POMPEII-X are courtesy of the Galerie BSL.