Jules Leleu More Furniture and Collectibles
A designer and ensemblier, Jules Leleu was one of the key authors of the Art Deco movement. While he did not win the fame of such contemporaries as Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann and Jean-Michel Frank, Leleu had a longer career and was easily their peer in the conception of trim, refined furniture forms and in the use of the opulent materials — from lacquer and ivory to sharkskin and exotic woods — that were a keynote of haute Art Deco design.
Leleu was born into a family of artisans and decorators. Their firm, Maison Leleu, had existed since the 18th century and Jules would guide it through much of the 20th. (The business lasted until 1973, headed at the end by Jules's children.) He studied architecture, served as an aviator in World War I, and after the conflict took up design full-time. Leleu presented work at the 1925 exposition in Paris that gave us the term Art Deco, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York purchased a burl amboyna wood commode by Leleu directly from the show.
As the desks, dining tables and other furniture on 1stDibs show, Leleu was a stickler for precision craft and preferred to let his materials do the talking — his furniture is generally spare and sleek; its presence is established by figuring (or patterning/graining) in the wood and the occasional marquetry medallion. He had a keen eye for currents in design, and an adaptable sensibility. Maison Leleu would embrace many of the starker forms of modernism after the 1940s, as well as new materials such as artificial lacquer and plastics (then considered cutting-edge rather than cheap). Jules Leleu is a guiding light of 20th-century modernism: a man whose work represents both a devotion to traditional handiwork and an appreciation for the next wave in design.
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu More Furniture and Collectibles
Bronze
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu More Furniture and Collectibles
Rosewood
20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Jules Leleu More Furniture and Collectibles
Steel
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu More Furniture and Collectibles
Bronze
20th Century French Art Deco Jules Leleu More Furniture and Collectibles
Walnut
20th Century American Organic Modern Jules Leleu More Furniture and Collectibles
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary American Jules Leleu More Furniture and Collectibles
Ash
1930s Italian Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu More Furniture and Collectibles
Brass
1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jules Leleu More Furniture and Collectibles
Elm
Early 19th Century Chinese Qing Antique Jules Leleu More Furniture and Collectibles
Rattan, Elm
1930s European Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu More Furniture and Collectibles
Walnut
1960s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jules Leleu More Furniture and Collectibles
Fiberglass
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jules Leleu More Furniture and Collectibles
Bamboo, Rattan
1940s English Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu More Furniture and Collectibles
Walnut
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Jules Leleu More Furniture and Collectibles
Steel
1930s Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu More Furniture and Collectibles
Metal
1920s French Vintage Jules Leleu More Furniture and Collectibles
Gold Leaf
1920s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu More Furniture and Collectibles
Gold Leaf
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu More Furniture and Collectibles
Rosewood