One of the most elegant and innovative 20th-century French furniture designers, Jacques Adnet created a simple, unadorned signature style that is both trim and vigorous. He began his career in the heyday of the Art Deco era, and in the 1950s, in association with Hermès, created chairs, lamps, desks and other pieces that employed slender metal frames clad in stitched saddle leather. With such furnishings, Adnet brought a fashion sensibility to design and decor that had not been seen since the 1920s prime of the great Paris couturier-decorator Paul Poiret.
Adnet was born in a provincial town in Burgundy, where he studied design before moving, along with his twin brother, Jean, to Paris to study at the École des Arts Décoratifs. After their graduation in the early 1920s, the brothers were hired to work in the decorative-arts atelier of the department store Galeries Lafayette, under the direction of Maurice Dufrêne, an Art Deco master who developed a singularly robust and opulent style. Both Adnets showed their work at the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes — the design fair from which the term Art Deco is derived.
In 1928, Jacques Adnet took charge of the struggling La Compagnie des Arts Français, a decorative-arts firm founded by Louis Süe and André Mare that created modern furnishings that bore traces of 18th-century styling. Adnet immediately took the company in a different direction. He developed a simple lithe and lean look that incorporated industrial materials such as metal and glass, along with exotic woods and finishes such as parchment and sharkskin.
Adnet’s furniture begs to be described in terms of personalities: charming faux-bamboo side tables, suave chrome lighting and urbane club chairs. His most noted pieces, which feature sleek metal frames wrapped in Hermès leather, have a character all their own — smooth, elegant and self-assured, they inhabit a room with the same wit and grace as Jean-Paul Belmondo and Catherine Deneuve.
Find vintage Jacques Adnet furniture for sale on 1stDibs.
Jacques Adnet, Sewing box in Lacquered Metal and Leather, France 1950
By Jacques Adnet
Located in Catonvielle, FR
Jacques Adnet (1900-1984), rare sewing box in topstitched fawn leather, structure in black lacquered metal and gilded brass, Compagnie des Arts Français, 1950. The work box is fixed ...
Metal, Brass
1950's Stitched leather vanity table by Jacques Adnet
By Jacques Adnet
Located in Bois-Colombes, FR
1950's Stitched Leatherette vanity designed by Jacques Adnet
Leather
Jacques Adnet Leather Bar Cart, France 1950's
By Jacques Adnet
Located in New York, NY
Absolutely perfect bar cart with faux bamboo details, great proportions in original leather, amazing condition. 30x18x31 Levels 8 & 24
Leather
1950s Light Oak Vanity by Ton
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This wonderful mid-century vanity was designed and manufactured during the 1950s by Ton of Czechoslovakia. Produced in light oak this fantastic vanity has a beautiful design, w...
Oak
French Art Deco Vanity att. Jacques Adnet
By Jacques Adnet
Located in Brooklyn, NY
This stunning vintage art deco triptych illuminated vanity features a mirror on base by Miroir-Brot, France. Attributed to French art deco modernist ...
Steel, Nickel
Jacques Adnet Green Leather and Wood Game Table, 1950s France
By Jacques Adnet
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Stunning leather table by French designer Jacques Adnet. Green leather wrapped bamboo style legs with leather wrapped top and corners. Original wood tabletop. Brass detailing through...
Brass
Leather Stitched Side Table by Jacques Adnet, c. 1950
By Jacques Adnet
Located in New York City, NY
Side table with stitched leather legs and wooden table top.
Leather, Wood
$33,879
H 30.52 in W 51.58 in D 24.22 in
Rare Desk and Armchair by Jacques Adnet, Stitched Leather and Skaï, 1950s
By Jacques Adnet
Located in Paris, FR
These desk and armchair by Jacques Adnet are quite rare with its marine type handles. Thea are completely covered with a mix of leather and skaï (faux leather) which is saddle-stitch...
Metal, Brass
$45,000
H 29.33 in Dm 43.7 in
Jacques Adnet Round Dining Table, Stitched Black Leather and Brass, circa 1950
By Jacques Adnet
Located in Atlanta, GA
Museum‑Level Jacques Adnet Leather‑Wrapped Dining Table, Rare Round Form, 1950s A truly exceptional Jacques Adnet masterpiece, this round dining table represents the pinnacle of the ...
Brass, Metal
1950s Ico Parisi Vanity Dressing Table
By Ico Parisi
Located in Florence, Tuscany
An extraordinarily elegant dressing table or vanity by Italian designer Ico Parisi. This wonderful piece of furniture has a glass dressing / console table at a height of 90cm below w...
Brass
Ikea Vanity 1950s Sweden
By IKEA
Located in Den Haag, NL
Must love this vanity so typical 1950s .Made by Ikea, Möbler. In the 1950s just a small Furniture seller in Sweden. This Little Vanity comes with Three drawers on top and one larger drawer on the right and on the left a pull down door, one original key . On top holding in a Brass fitting a oval tilting...
Wood
Jacques Adnet Leather and Oak Desk, 1950s France
By Jacques Adnet
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Monumental Art Deco era desk by French Art Deco Modernist designer Jacques Adnet. Iron frame with 4 posts, inverted u-shaped bases and brass support ...
Brass, Iron
Jacques Adnet Desk, 1950’s
By Jacques Adnet
Located in PAU, FR
Important And rare green Desk and chair of Jacques Adnet. Quitte rare in green. The top is in black formica.
Leather
Jacques Adnet Leather Coffee Table, 1950s
By Jacques Adnet
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Well proportioned French modernist leather coffee table by Jacques Adnet. Iron frame entirely wrapped in black leather, with delicate bends give this piece stunning presence. Very we...
Metal, Brass
1950's Stitched leather vanity by Jacques Adnet
By Jacques Adnet
Located in Bois-Colombes, FR
1950's Stitched leather vanity This is a very rare piece By Jacques Adnet France
Metal
1950s Stitched Leather Vanity by Jacques Adnet
By Jacques Adnet
Located in Bois-Colombes, FR
1950s stitched leather vanity by Jacques Adnet Dimensions of the stool Diameter 31, high 43 cm.
Leather, Opaline Glass
Rare French Jacques Adnet Leather Desk Vanity with Stool, 1940s
By Jacques Adnet
Located in Paris, IDF
This vanity desk and stool set are rendered in monochromatic black, created by black metal, black opaline, and black piqué sellier (saddle stich) leather. The sleek look is interrupt...
Brass, Iron
Vintage French Art Deco Vanity Attributed to Jacques Adnet
By Jacques Adnet
Located in North Hollywood, CA
Stunning vintage Art Deco vanity or desk attributed to Jacques Adnet in France, circa 1950s. This furniture has an exceptional design since the structure is characterized by having 4...
Metal
Jacques Adnet Marble Chrome and Mirror Vanity/ Desk
By Jacques Adnet
Located in New York, NY
A phenomenal Art Deco vanity/ desk by Adnet combines a two-drawer mirrored top with glass handles, flanked each side by two slabs of solid veined dark gr...
Marble, Steel