Olivier Mourgue Flush Mount
With its undulating, futuristic and playful form, it’s easy to see why filmmaker Stanley Kubrick chose to use Olivier Mourgue’s iconic Djinn chair in his 1968 masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey. But the French artist and industrial designer is known for much more than the Space Age Djinn. From his whimsical Flower floor lamps to his anthropomorphic Bouloum chair, Mourgue is renowned as an important contributor to the 1960s Pop art era of modern furniture design.
Born in Paris in 1939, Mourgue grew up in an apartment filled with Empire-style antique furniture, which he derided as having “nothing to do with life.” He later studied art at Paris’s École Boulle, graduating in 1958. He then attended the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs.
In 1959, his former teacher at École Boulle, Marcel Merpillat, encouraged him to present a chair he designed at a competition hosted by furniture manufacturer Airborne. Airborne founder Charles Bernard was impressed by Mourgue’s design, which featured a leather-upholstered seat attached to a chrome steel frame; it was produced by the company under the name the Joker. Mourgue designed several other mid-century modern pieces for Airborne throughout the 1960s, including the Whist chaise longue, the rotund Montreal chair, the unique Cubique chair and the Djinn series, which first appeared in 1964.
In addition to Airborne, Mourgue has designed for furniture manufacturers such as Disderot and Prisunic, and collaborated with British architect and designer Sir Norman Foster and Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa.
Mourgue worked for Le Mobilier National to design the French Pavilion for Montreal’s Expo ‘67. In 1968, he received the International Design Award from the Institute of Interior Designers in New York for the Djinn lounge chair. He also exhibited several of his works at Expo ‘70 in Osaka, Japan.
Today, Mourgue’s pieces are part of the permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
On 1stDibs, discover a range of vintage Olivier Mourgue seating, lighting and more.
21st Century and Contemporary French Mid-Century Modern Olivier Mourgue Flush Mount
Aluminum, Stainless Steel
1970s Czech Mid-Century Modern Vintage Olivier Mourgue Flush Mount
Metal
1960s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Olivier Mourgue Flush Mount
Aluminum, Chrome
1970s German Space Age Vintage Olivier Mourgue Flush Mount
Metal
20th Century French Olivier Mourgue Flush Mount
Chrome
1970s Dutch Mid-Century Modern Vintage Olivier Mourgue Flush Mount
Glass
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Olivier Mourgue Flush Mount
Metal
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Olivier Mourgue Flush Mount
Brass
1970s Dutch Mid-Century Modern Vintage Olivier Mourgue Flush Mount
Crystal, Silver
Mid-20th Century Olivier Mourgue Flush Mount
Metal, Aluminum, Chrome
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Olivier Mourgue Flush Mount
Metal
1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Olivier Mourgue Flush Mount
Steel, Brass
20th Century French Olivier Mourgue Flush Mount
Chrome
