Jules Leleu Sofas
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.
1960s French Modern Vintage Jules Leleu Sofas
Brass
1940s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Sofas
Velvet
1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jules Leleu Sofas
Velvet, Walnut
1940s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Sofas
Upholstery, Beech
Early 20th Century French Art Deco Jules Leleu Sofas
Fabric, Upholstery, Wood
19th Century Antique Jules Leleu Sofas
Brass
1970s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jules Leleu Sofas
Chrome
1940s Italian Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Sofas
Velvet, Beech
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Sofas
Upholstery, Wood, Beech
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jules Leleu Sofas
Velvet, Beech
1930s Italian Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Sofas
Fabric, Velvet, Walnut, Burl
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jules Leleu Sofas
Metal
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jules Leleu Sofas
Suede, Wood
1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jules Leleu Sofas
Fabric, Walnut
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jules Leleu Sofas
Velvet, Beech
2010s North American Modern Jules Leleu Sofas
Hardwood
1920s Danish Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Sofas
Fabric, Wood
1940s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Sofas
Upholstery, Wood
1950s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Sofas
Wood
1940s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Sofas
Upholstery, Wood
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Sofas
Cotton
1950s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Sofas
Brass, Steel
1920s French Vintage Jules Leleu Sofas
Mahogany
Mid-20th Century French Jules Leleu Sofas
Bronze
20th Century French Jules Leleu Sofas
Walnut, Upholstery
Five –piece set comprising sofa, two club chairs and two armchairs, made of oak wood, with gilt-bronze sabots and upholstered with Aubusson tapestry.<...
1940s French Vintage Jules Leleu Sofas
Bronze