Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Centerpieces
While little is known about audacious modernist designers Adrien Audoux and Frida Minet, the French-Swiss husband-and-wife duo created playful and unique decorative objects, dining chairs, sconces and other furniture during the mid-20th century. Rejecting Art Deco lavishness and the concept that seating, tables and other furnishings should be made with luxurious and exotic materials, Minet and Audoux adopted a rustic style in their work, integrating abaca hemp cord and other organic materials such as beech and bamboo in their provocative designs.
Audoux and Minet were active in Côte d'Azur, France — they are believed to have established a workshop there in the late 1920s. The designers were members of the Union des Artistes Modernes, a collective of like-minded artists founded in 1929. The raison d'être of the Union was to design household furnishings and decorative pieces for a wider demographic of people, not merely affluent Parisians — a target kind of buyer for many creators of the day. They promoted simplicity and prioritized functionalism. The collective’s membership boasted other celebrated furniture designers, including Jean Prouvé, Charlotte Perriand, Francis Jourdain and Louis Sognot.
Minet and Audoux spent much of their time in the Provence region, a hub of creativity where other artists such as Pablo Picasso found endless inspiration. They created everything from lighting to lounge chairs and end tables that reflected a nautical theme and coastal living. Minet and Audoux’s imaginative works — table lamps with shades covered in raffia, oak benches with seat backs of woven rope — were made available to passers-by in the duo’s retail outlet in the seaside resort town of Golfe-Juan. The pair also incorporated woven rope into larger pieces such as armchairs and side tables. These furnishings are often compared to the work of similarly adventurous Union des Artistes Modernes member Charlotte Perriand. Several of Audoux and Minet’s seating pieces are on display at the Maison Dumas in St. Tropez, France.
Find vintage Adrien Audoux and Frida Minet furniture on 1stDibs.
1960s French Rustic Vintage Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Centerpieces
Rope, Cork
1950s French Rustic Vintage Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Centerpieces
Rope, Cork
1960s French Rustic Vintage Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Centerpieces
Rope, Cork
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Centerpieces
Ceramic, Faience
20th Century English Anglo-Japanese Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Centerpieces
Porcelain
1950s Danish Scandinavian Modern Vintage Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Centerpieces
Enamel, Steel
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Centerpieces
Art Glass, Murano Glass
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Centerpieces
Metal, Brass
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Centerpieces
Chrome
Mid-20th Century Japanese Anglo-Japanese Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Centerpieces
Bamboo
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Centerpieces
Brass
Mid-20th Century Irish Edwardian Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Centerpieces
Porcelain
Early 1900s American Late Victorian Antique Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Centerpieces
Steel
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Centerpieces
Porcelain
1940s French Vintage Adrien Audoux and Frida Minnet Centerpieces
Crystal, Bronze
