Serge Mouille Library Ceiling Lamp

On the advice of his drawing teacher, Serge Mouille applied to the School of Applied Arts in Paris without knowing what they taught. In 1936, he became the youngest student ever to attend the school, continuing on to become a teacher for the institution while establishing his own reputation as one of the great mid-century lighting makers of the 20th century.

Like the works of the Castiglioni brothers, Karl Springer and Emil Stejnar, Mouille’s minimalist, multi-armed light fixtures are now considered iconic. Angular and kinetic, each fixture was hand-made with a healthy respect for the artisan spirit — an appreciation he learned during his apprenticeship under French sculptor Gabriel René Lacroix. After Mouille died in 1988, his widow, Gin, teamed up with Mouille’s friend Claude Delpiroux and resumed production of Serge’s work under a new family company: Éditions Serge Mouille.

Éditions Serge Mouille kept the designs, materials and hand-made manufacturing process identical to those of the original models. Considered essential to the designs, only expert craftspeople, like Mouille’s former student Fred Barnley, are trusted to make the fixtures. 

Each lamp is accompanied by a signed certificate of authenticity. Gin approved all lamps leaving the workshop until her death in 2009, then Delpiroux signed off on the work before his passing in 2016. Claude Delpiroux’s son, Didier Delpiroux, took over in 2016 and continues to oversee the estimated 1,500 pieces produced by Éditions Serge Mouille and shipped around the world annually.

Mouille’s designs were extremely popular in the 1950s and were shown at Steph Simon Gallery in Paris. A member of both the Society of Decorative Artists and of the French National Art Society, Mouille won the Charles Plumet Prize and received an honorary diploma at the Brussels Expo in 1958. Mouille designed for schools in Antony, Strasbourg and Marseilles, as well as for the Bizerte Cathedral in Tunisia. Today, American comedian Ellen Degeneres is among the many high-profile celebrities and collectors to include Mouille’s lighting in their homes.

On 1stDibs, find a collection of Éditions Serge Mouille wall lights and sconces, table lamps and floor lamps.