Pair of Art Deco Coffee Cups with Saucers Design Sue & Mare Gallia-Christofle

Louis Süe was a man of many artistic talents who excelled in a range of disciplines in the Parisian design scene of the early 20th century. He was a painter, furniture maker, decorator and architect — he drew on traditional design but sought to make modernist work. His best known furniture designs included wall mirrors, console tables and armchairs created in the elegant Art Deco style, and his interior designs spanned private residences and passenger liners.

Süe was born in Bordeaux and enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1893. In 1902, his work was exhibited at the Salon d'Automne and the Salon des Indépendants, and he continued exhibiting at Parisian salons over the course of his career. Beginning in 1903, Süe collaborated with other artists to create workshops and cooperative businesses in the city.

One of the most significant partnerships of Süe's career was with French artist and textile designer André Mare, with whom Süe became acquainted while working at an interior design firm called L’Atelier Français. In 1919–20, the pair, known as Süe et Mare, founded the Compagnie des Arts Français, which specialized in furniture, tapestries, wallpaper and silverware. The founders intended to draw on 18th-century furniture to create modern works and were inspired by Cubism and Art Nouveau and created forward-looking Art Deco designs that are widely celebrated today.

Inspired by the work of Austrian collective Wiener Werkstätte, Süe and Mare grew a successful business at the Compagnie des Arts Français, mass-producing furnishings and objects, taking on a range of wealthy clients and employing artists such as Marie Laurencin, Paul Vera and Fernand Léger. One of their interior design projects was the Polish Embassy in Paris. In 1925, Süe and Mare designed the Fontaine & Cie Pavilion at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris, which featured works by André Groult, Maurice Dufrêne and others.

The Compagnie des Arts Français struggled financially toward the end of the 1920s and was sold to the owners of the French department store Galeries Lafayette. Jacques Adnet, who was working with Dufrêne at the decorative arts atelier of Galeries Lafayette, was appointed artistic director of the Compagnie and steered the firm in a different direction. 

After Süe left the Compagnie, he worked as an independent architect and designer. Some of his notable projects include the Basque villa of French fashion designer Jean Patou, completed in 1931, and the reconstruction of Hôtel Hesselin in Paris, completed in 1937.

Süe became the treasurer of the Société des artistes décorateurs in 1936 and was named the society president in 1939. That was also the year he designed the French Village for the New York World's Fair. During World War II, he lived in Istanbul and lectured at the Institute of Fine Arts. He returned to France after the war and passed away in Paris in 1968.

In 2021, around 30 pieces of furniture by Süe et Mare from the estate of German-born fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld went to auction at Sotheby's. Many of Süe's designs are held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

On 1stDibs, find antique Louis Süe tables, seating, mirrors and more.

Although he started his career as a jeweler in 1830 — after apprenticing with his copper jeweler brother-in-law years earlier — Charles Christofle (1805–63) recognized that Second Empire France had an untapped audience for luxury silverware and tableware.

Gold and silver gilt had been the high-end standard in the 18th century, yet society after the Industrial Revolution demanded a more affordable, but still refined, approach. So in the 1840s, Christofle cornered the market on electrolytic gilding and silver plating, dominating the hold on patents in the country for over a decade. His work soon attracted the attention of Louis-Philippe I and then Napoleon III, under whom he was named Fournisseur de l’Empereur, cementing the prestige of his brand.

While Christofle created decadent centerpieces and tableware for the French palaces — as well as prominent clients like the Orient Express — the company’s electroplating of silverware that was far less expensive than that made by silversmiths attained widespread popularity. At a time when many who could not afford gold or silver still used wooden utensils, Christofle was a game changer for at-home dining. An appearance at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago furthered the company’s reach to American consumers who would soon rival the manufacturer’s European clientele.

The 20th century saw Christofle adapting to changing tastes in its offerings, such as the Aria collection, which debuted in 1985 with column-like lines on its flatware designed by Bernard Yot, and the playful egg-shaped silverware container introduced in 2015 that opens to reveal a full flatware set. The company also now sells barware, home accessories and even jewelry, harkening back to its roots. Now almost two centuries old, Christofle maintains its reputation as a leading flatware and silverware company under the ownership of the Chalhoub group, its utensils gracing tables in homes, hotels and restaurants all over the world.

Shop authentic Christofle serveware, ceramics, decorative objects and more on 1stDibs.