Mid-20th Century Handmade French Moderne Accent Rug by Leleu

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.

The story of Art Deco is incomplete without the contributions of Paule Leleu. The daughter of celebrated French designer Jules Leleu, Paule carved out her niche in designing beautiful Western European rugs. A rich use of color and bold geometric patterns made Leleu’s rugs a quintessential representation of Art Deco style. 

Leleu was born in 1906 into a family with a love of design. Her grandfather operated a painting business in Paris, which her father and uncle transformed into an interior design company. They grew it into an influential design studio, which was among the first to pivot to Art Deco when it became popular after World War I. The Leleu design studio won the top prize at the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts.

French designer Ivan da Silva Bruhns initially helmed the rug department of the Leleu firm. When he left the company in 1936, Paule Leleu took over. She expanded on da Silva Bruhns’s success and soon produced many award-winning designs. 

Leleu instilled the Art Deco style into her hand-knotted rugs that featured simple linear motifs and decorative flourishes. In the 1940s, she began using floral patterns. Leleu always created her designs with her family company’s furniture in mind. Like that furniture, her later carpets also tended towards the minimalism of mid-century modern style.

Across her career as the chief rug designer at the Leleu design house, Paule Leleu is credited with more than 500 rug designs. The stunning statement pieces remain classics for today’s homes. 

On 1stDibs, find Paule Leleu rugs and carpets as well as other home accents.