Pierre Paulin

Pierre Paulin was born in Paris in 1927. Paulin was a Pioneer of Modern design. Pierre Paulin studied stone carving and clay modeling at the Ecole Camondo in Paris in the early fifties where he began designing furniture for Thonet. In 1958, Pierre Paulin joined the Artifort Design Group which gave him the opportunity to realize his sculptural vision of furniture. He was considered too much of a visionary for Paris at the time.

Experimenting with wooden shells, pressed under high-frequency, and tubular frames covered with canvas cotton, foam and elastic fabric, his visions evolved and became reality. Visions he treasured as beautiful things for common people, soon to be discovered by a large Avant-Garde audience, causing a true revolution.

Since that day revolutionary Pierre Paulin and his colorful sculptures would be respected and admired in New York, Paris and Tokyo.

In 1968, Paulin collaborated with Le Mobilier National and received many important government commissions including furniture and interiors for the Elysee Palace in Paris. He also designed home appliances.

Chairs designed by Pierre Paulin are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York, Musée des arts Decoratifs in Parijs, National Gallery of Victory in Melbourne, and Östereichisches Kunst für angewandte Kunst, Vienna.

In 2007, Paulin turned 80. This year's Salone Internazionale del Mobil in Milan was the launching pad for a year long celebration of Pierre Paulin, the French-born designer and aesthetic authority at Artifort, for whom Paulin has spent 50 of his 80 years designing.