Pair of Mid-Century Modern Woven Rope Lounge Chairs Attributed to Audoux-Minet

While little is known about audacious modernist designers Adrien Audoux and Frida Minet, the French-Swiss husband-and-wife duo created playful and unique decorative objects, dining chairs, sconces and other furniture during the mid-20th century. Rejecting Art Deco lavishness and the concept that seating, tables and other furnishings should be made with luxurious and exotic materials, Minet and Audoux adopted a rustic style in their work, integrating abaca hemp cord and other organic materials such as beech and bamboo in their provocative designs.

Audoux and Minet were active in Côte d'Azur, France — they are believed to have established a workshop there in the late 1920s. The designers were members of the Union des Artistes Modernes, a collective of like-minded artists founded in 1929. The raison d'être of the Union was to design household furnishings and decorative pieces for a wider demographic of people, not merely affluent Parisians — a target kind of buyer for many creators of the day. They promoted simplicity and prioritized functionalism. The collective’s membership boasted other celebrated furniture designers, including Jean Prouvé, Charlotte Perriand, Francis Jourdain and Louis Sognot. 

Minet and Audoux spent much of their time in the Provence region, a hub of creativity where other artists such as Pablo Picasso found endless inspiration. They created everything from lighting to lounge chairs and end tables that reflected a nautical theme and coastal living. Minet and Audoux’s imaginative works — table lamps with shades covered in raffia, oak benches with seat backs of woven rope — were made available to passers-by in the duo’s retail outlet in the seaside resort town of Golfe-Juan. The pair also incorporated woven rope into larger pieces such as armchairs and side tables. These furnishings are often compared to the work of similarly adventurous Union des Artistes Modernes member Charlotte Perriand. Several of Audoux and Minet’s seating pieces are on display at the Maison Dumas in St. Tropez, France. 

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With enduring designs like the immensely plush, Pop art–inspired Togo lounge chair and sofa, Ligne Roset has become synonymous with radical luxury furniture. However, when Antoine Roset (1841–93) started the company in 1860 in the small French town of Oussiat, its focus was on wooden umbrella handles.

In 1892, Ligne Roset’s founder expanded with a property in Montagnieu where he set up a wood-processing factory, eventually expanding into manufacturing chairs. After his death, his wife, Marie-Victorine, took over before his son, Emile Roset, began leading the company in the 1910s.

It wasn’t until after World War II that Antoine’s grandson, Jean Roset, would recognize the need for furniture in settings like schools, hospitals and retirement homes and take inspiration from Scandinavian modern design for functional pieces made primarily from affordable beech.

Under Jean, Ligne Roset supplied quite a few European institutions with beautiful wood furnishings. In the 1970s, he shifted the company’s focus again, this time looking to domestic and residential markets. Around this time, Jean’s two sons, Pierre and Michel, joined the company.

Ligne Roset opened its first store in 1973 with one of the most popular collections being designer Michel Ducaroy’s Togo modular sofa and chairs — classics of contemporary French design that look like oversize bent pillows.

After the success of this initial designer collaboration, Ligne Roset brought on more guest designers over the following decades, including Didier Gomez, Pascal Mourgue, Peter Maly, Pierre Paulin, Inga Sempé and Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. Paulin’s Elysée sofa and Pumpkin chair — designed in 1971 for Elysée Palace — are among the brand’s most popular pieces. In 1975, the company introduced its Cinna brand, known to collectors for the Sandra sofa designed by Annie Hiéronimus and other alluring seating.

Ligne Roset continues to be run by the Roset family who works on revolutionary furniture in partnership with a variety of collaborators. It has operated in Briord since 1973 where it produces its iconically sleek and innovative pieces.

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