Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Pierre Paulin introduced a fresh breeze into French furniture design in the 1960s and ’70s, fostering a sleek new Space-Age aesthetic. Along with Olivier Mourgue, Paulin developed chairs, sofas, dining tables and other furnishings with flowing lines and almost surreal naturalistic forms. And his work became such a byword for chic, forward-looking design and emerging technologies that two French presidents commissioned him to create environments in the Élysée Palace in Paris.
Paulin was born in Paris to a family of artists and designers. He initially sought to become a ceramist and sculptor and was studying in the town of Vallauris near the Côte d'Azur — a center for pottery making, where Pablo Picasso spent his postwar summers crafting ceramics — but broke his hand in a fight. He enrolled at the École Camondo, the Paris interior design school. There, Paulin was strongly influenced by the work of Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson and Arne Jacobsen, as was reflected in his early creations for the manufacturer Thonet-France.
It was at the Dutch firm Artifort, which he joined in 1958, where Paulin blossomed. In a few years, he produced several of his signature designs based on abstract organic shapes. These include the Butterfly chair (1963), which features a tubular steel frame and slung leather, and a group of striking seating pieces made with steel frames covered in polyurethane foam and tight jersey fabric: the Mushroom (1960), Ribbon (1966) and Tongue (1967) chairs. The revered designer not only introduced new construction techniques to Artifort furniture but contributed fresh materials, Pop art colors and dazzling shapes to the mid-century modern era as a whole.
In 1971, the Mobilier National — a department of France’s Ministry of Culture in charge of furnishing top-tier government offices and embassies — commissioned Paulin to redesign President Georges Pompidou’s private apartment in the Élysée Palace. In three years, Paulin transformed the staid rooms into futuristic environments with curved, fabric-clad walls and furnishings such as bookcases made from an arrangement of smoked-glass U shapes, flower-like pedestal chairs and pumpkin-esque loungers.
Ten years later, the Mobilier National called on Paulin again, this time to furnish the private office of President François Mitterand. Paulin responded with an angular, postmodern take on neoclassical furniture, pieces that looked surprisingly at home in the paneled, Savonnerie-carpeted Louis XVI rooms. As those two Élysée Palace projects show, Paulin furniture works well both in a total decor or when used as a counterpoint to traditional pieces. His creations have a unique personality: bright and playful yet sophisticated and suave.
Find vintage Pierre Paulin lounge chairs, armchairs, coffee tables and other furniture on 1stDibs.
21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Modern Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Textile
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Steel
1960s Dutch Vintage Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Fabric
Mid-20th Century Dutch Mid-Century Modern Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Aluminum, Chrome
1960s Dutch Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Chrome
Mid-20th Century European Mid-Century Modern Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Metal
1980s Dutch Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Fabric
1980s Dutch Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Fabric
1970s Dutch Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Chrome
1960s Dutch Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Bouclé, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Modern Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Textile
21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Modern Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Textile
1960s Dutch Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Modern Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Textile
1960s Dutch Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Modern Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Textile
1940s American Industrial Vintage Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Steel
Late 20th Century Dutch Mid-Century Modern Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Aluminum, Steel
1980s Dutch Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Leather, Walnut
21st Century and Contemporary American Organic Modern Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Steel
2010s French Organic Modern Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Fabric
Early 2000s French Mid-Century Modern Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Ultrasuede
1960s Dutch Vintage Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Metal
1960s Dutch Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Chrome
1960s Dutch Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Fabric
1960s Dutch Vintage Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Fabric
1960s Dutch Vintage Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Fabric
1960s Dutch Vintage Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Fabric
1960s Dutch Vintage Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Fabric
Mid-20th Century Dutch Mid-Century Modern Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Steel
2010s French Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Fabric
1970s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Pierre Paulin Swivel Chairs
Metal