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 Desk and Chair, 1950s France
By Jacques Adnet
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Exceptional Art Deco era desk with matching chair by French modernist designer Jacques Adnet. Entire desk is wrapped in leather. Iron frame with 4 po...
Brass, Iron
$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
$68,000
H 29.93 in W 47.25 in D 23.63 in
Jacques Adnet - A French 1950s Desk with Lamp by Jacques Adnet
By Jacques Adnet
Located in Long Island City, NY
Jacques Adnet - A fine French Mid-Century rectangular desk and lamp, with a black lacquered metal base, pivoting leather covered drawer, saddle-stitched leather mail holder...
Metal
Jacques Adnet Magazine Table, France, 1950's
By Jacques Adnet
Located in New York, NY
Green Leather over blackened steel with brass accents, this side table has a very stylish magazine rack built in. 19x11x21
Leather
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
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
Brass Vanity Table, marked “Modello Depositato”, Italy circa 1950s
Located in New York, NY
Resting on a sleek three-legged brass base, this mid-century vanity table features a stylish kidney-shaped tabletop with stars. The mirror is tilt-able, allowing for customizable ang...
Brass
Jacques Adnet Modernist Dressing Table circa 1935
By La Maison Desny
Located in CA, CA
This supremely rare early Modernist dressing table by Jacques Adnet, with its novel use of clear and opaline glass, and nickel-plated and pain...
Nickel
$33,149
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
$7,695
H 27.96 in Dm 18.9 in
Jacques Adnet, Pedestal table covered in green leather with saddle stitching.
By Jacques Adnet
Located in Nice, Cote d' Azur
Jacques Adnet, Pedestal table covered in green leather with saddle stitching, circa 1970, France. Height 71 cm, diameter 51 cm.
Leather
$7,600Sale Price|20% Off
H 18.12 in W 17.72 in D 39.38 in
Midcentury Leather Coffee Table after Jacques Adnet, France, 1950
By Jacques Adnet
Located in Saarbruecken, DE
Midcentury coffee table after Jacques Adnet, France, 1950. Good vintage condition. Solid and stable metal frame covered in black leather. Handstiched. Leather in good soft condition...
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