Tolix H75

The sturdy and sleek furniture designed by Tolix has become a standard of trendy cafés and retro diners. For nearly a century, the French company has become synonymous with café culture in France and beyond. 

In 1908, Xavier Pauchard, nicknamed Mr. X, founded Tolix in Burgundy, France. A zinc roofer by trade, Pauchard focused on making household items from sheet metal and using zinc to galvanize his products. Clean-lined and practical, Tolix’s metal furniture marked an early expression of mid-century modern style. 

Pauchard designed Tolix’s flagship industrial-style chair, the Chaise A, in the mid-1920s. Also known as the Model A chair, it was designed with small holes in the seat to allow rainwater to drain without sacrificing comfort or durability. In 1934, Pauchard improved the Chaise A with the slimmer, more lightweight Marais A chair. Stackable up to 25 chairs high, it quickly became a favorite among hospitals, schools and factories.

There is debate about whether Joseph Mathieu’s designs influenced Pauchard’s creation of the Multipl, another stacking metal chair from the mid-20th century. 

Major museums have exhibited Tolix’s designs, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Vitra Design Museum in Rhein, Germany. In 2006, the brand received the label of Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant, a formal acknowledgment from the French Ministry of Economics and Finance of its industrial excellence and mastery.

Due to a shift in design trends, Tolix fell out of favor near the end of the 20th century and filed for bankruptcy. The company rebounded in 2004 under the ownership of its chief financial officer, Chantal Andriot. Strengthened by a high demand for industrial furniture, Tolix is now experiencing a resurgence in popularity, especially in cafés, breweries and restaurants.

On 1stDibs, find a collection of Tolix dining chairs, tables, stools and more.

Stools are versatile and a necessary addition to any living room, kitchen area or elsewhere in your home. A sofa or reliable lounge chair might nab all the credit, comfort-wise, but don’t discount the roles that good antique, new and vintage stools can play.

“Stools are jewels and statements in a space, and they can also be investment pieces,” says New York City designer Amy Lau, who adds that these seats provide an excellent choice for setting an interior’s general tone. 

Stools, which are among the oldest forms of wooden furnishings, may also serve as decorative pieces, even if we’re talking about a stool that is far less sculptural than the gracefully curving molded plywood shells that make up Sōri Yanagi’s provocative Butterfly stool. 

Fawn Galli, a New York interior designer, uses her stools in the same way you would use a throw pillow. “I normally buy several styles and move them around the home where needed,” she says.

Stools are smaller pieces of seating as compared to armchairs or dining chairs and can add depth as well as functionality to a space that you’ve set aside for entertaining. For a splash of color, consider the Stool 60, a pioneering work of bentwood by Finnish architect and furniture maker Alvar Aalto. It’s manufactured by Artek and comes in a variety of colored seats and finishes.

Barstools that date back to the 1970s are now more ubiquitous in kitchens. Vintage barstools have seen renewed interest, be they a meld of chrome and leather or transparent plastic, such as the Lucite and stainless-steel counter stool variety from Indiana-born furniture designer Charles Hollis Jones, who is renowned for his acrylic works. A cluster of barstools — perhaps a set of four brushed-aluminum counter stools by Emeco or Tubby Tube stools by Faye Toogood — can encourage merriment in the kitchen. If you’ve got the room for family and friends to congregate and enjoy cocktails where the cooking is done, consider matching your stools with a tall table.

Whether you need counter stools, drafting stools or another kind, explore an extensive range of antique, new and vintage stools on 1stDibs.