Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Pierre Paulin introduced a fresh breeze into French furniture design in the 1960s and ’70s, fostering a sleek new Space-Age aesthetic. Along with Olivier Mourgue, Paulin developed chairs, sofas, dining tables and other furnishings with flowing lines and almost surreal naturalistic forms. And his work became such a byword for chic, forward-looking design and emerging technologies that two French presidents commissioned him to create environments in the Élysée Palace in Paris.
Paulin was born in Paris to a family of artists and designers. He initially sought to become a ceramist and sculptor and was studying in the town of Vallauris near the Côte d'Azur — a center for pottery making, where Pablo Picasso spent his postwar summers crafting ceramics — but broke his hand in a fight. He enrolled at the École Camondo, the Paris interior design school. There, Paulin was strongly influenced by the work of Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson and Arne Jacobsen, as was reflected in his early creations for the manufacturer Thonet-France.
It was at the Dutch firm Artifort, which he joined in 1958, where Paulin blossomed. In a few years, he produced several of his signature designs based on abstract organic shapes. These include the Butterfly chair (1963), which features a tubular steel frame and slung leather, and a group of striking seating pieces made with steel frames covered in polyurethane foam and tight jersey fabric: the Mushroom (1960), Ribbon (1966) and Tongue (1967) chairs. The revered designer not only introduced new construction techniques to Artifort furniture but contributed fresh materials, Pop art colors and dazzling shapes to the mid-century modern era as a whole.
In 1971, the Mobilier National — a department of France’s Ministry of Culture in charge of furnishing top-tier government offices and embassies — commissioned Paulin to redesign President Georges Pompidou’s private apartment in the Élysée Palace. In three years, Paulin transformed the staid rooms into futuristic environments with curved, fabric-clad walls and furnishings such as bookcases made from an arrangement of smoked-glass U shapes, flower-like pedestal chairs and pumpkin-esque loungers.
Ten years later, the Mobilier National called on Paulin again, this time to furnish the private office of President François Mitterand. Paulin responded with an angular, postmodern take on neoclassical furniture, pieces that looked surprisingly at home in the paneled, Savonnerie-carpeted Louis XVI rooms. As those two Élysée Palace projects show, Paulin furniture works well both in a total decor or when used as a counterpoint to traditional pieces. His creations have a unique personality: bright and playful yet sophisticated and suave.
Find vintage Pierre Paulin lounge chairs, armchairs, coffee tables and other furniture on 1stDibs.
1960s French Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Metal
1970s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Steel
1950s French Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Metal
1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Metal
20th Century French Modern Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Oak
1950s French Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Metal
1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Metal
1970s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Steel
1980s American Art Deco Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Leather, Birdseye Maple
1980s American Art Deco Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Leather, Maple, Walnut
1980s American Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Birdseye Maple, Walnut
1950s French Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Metal
1980s American Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Birdseye Maple, Walnut
1960s French Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Metal
1960s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Metal
1940s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Metal
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Wood
1950s Dutch Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Birch, Teak, Wenge, Plywood
Mid-20th Century Indian Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Wood
1950s Indian Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Teak
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary German Mid-Century Modern Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Steel, Metal
2010s Portuguese Modern Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Oak, Walnut, Plywood
21st Century and Contemporary American Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Cut Steel
1980s American Art Deco Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Leather, Maple, Walnut
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Steel, Nickel
1960s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Elm
1950s French Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Metal
1960s French Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Metal
1960s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Metal
1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Steel
1970s Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Stainless Steel
1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Metal
1950s French Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Metal
1980s American Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Leather, Birdseye Maple
1950s French Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Leather, Oak
1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Iron
1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Metal
1960s French Vintage Pierre Paulin Desks and Writing Tables
Metal