"Whale" Sculptural Chair by Hubert Le Gall - La Baleine

Self-taught French designer Hubert Le Gall imbues his modern furniture creations with a sense of joy and whimsy. His expansive repertoire includes everything from chandeliers and wall mirrors to coffee tables and armchairs, each piece more playful than the next. “I’m very sincere in my work," Le Gall told Introspective magazine. "I try to be happy in life and to make others happy.”

Le Gall was born in 1961 in Lyon, France. He dreamed of becoming an architect as a child but studied finance instead at the behest of his father. Not content to leave his artistic passion behind, Le Gall gave up his finance career and began painting portraits instead. Over time, he was drawn to the world of furniture design. In the 1980s, he partnered with a carpenter and opened a studio in Paris. By the early 1990s, he had stopped painting and thrown himself completely into furniture-making.

Le Gall's pieces balance the line between furniture and art. They are functional but imaginative, with unusual proportions, novel materials and dramatic flourishes. "I always say that I am a creator of furniture," Le Gall explained to Forbes. "I am more an artist than a designer. That’s why I’m more interested in the world of art than the world of decoration.”

Le Gall has had solo exhibitions at the Museum Francisque Mandet in Riom, France, and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs at the Château Borély in Marseille. His work is held in many private and public collections and is admired by renowned designers and architects like David Scott, Jacques Garcia, Brian J. McCarthy and Caroline Sarkozy.

On 1stDibs, find Hubert le Gall lighting, mirrors and tables.