Pierre Paulin

One of the most iconic French furniture designers of the 1960’s and 70’s, Pierre Paulin defined the era’s laid back style. Paulin began his career in the workshop of legendary designer Marcel Gascoin, where he was first exposed to Scandinavian aesthetics. Enchanted by the design process, Paulin began creating his own furniture designs, as well as collaborating with well-known companies such as Thonet France and Artifort. These early pieces took a playful approach to form, stretching and warping fabrics across armatures. As Paulin’s popularity grew, he became known as a hedonistic modernist whose low-slung pieces like the Pacha Chair captured the look and feel of the era. It was these chic designs that caught the eye of the French president and led to two commissions to design presidential apartments in the Elysee Palace. With designs in the Museum of Modern Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Centre Pompidou, Pierre Paulin’s furnishings are internationally recognized for reflecting the design sensibilities of the era. Today, his iconic designs retain their allure, hearkening back to the relaxed ethos of the 1960’s and 70’s while exemplifying the principles of modernist design.