Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
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.
1950s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Mirror, Wood
1920s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood
20th Century French Art Deco Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass
20th Century French Art Deco Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Metal, Gold
20th Century French Art Deco Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble, Brass
1950s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass
20th Century French Art Deco Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Rosewood, Lacquer
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Rosewood
1940s European Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Fruitwood, Art Glass
1950s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood
1930s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Metal
1950s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
1920s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass
1940s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Bronze
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass
1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Rosewood
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass
1940s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Walnut
2010s Art Deco Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Metal
1950s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Late 20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass
Early 20th Century Chinese Art Deco Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood
1960s French French Provincial Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Ceramic, Hardwood
Mid-20th Century Chinoiserie Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Lacquer
Late 20th Century European Rococo Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood, Lacquer
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Chrome
Early 20th Century Japanese Anglo-Japanese Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood, Lacquer
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Walnut
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Palisander
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Mahogany
20th Century French Art Deco Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Bronze
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Rosewood
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Leather
1960s Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
1960s French Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble, Metal
1940s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Macassar, Glass
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Amboyna
1940s French Other Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Mahogany, Mirror
1940s French Vintage Jules Leleu Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass, Pewter