Scarce original Pacha Slipper Chairs by Pierre Paulin

Pierre Paulin introduced a fresh breeze into French furniture design in the 1960s and ’70s, fostering a sleek new Space-Age aesthetic. Along with Olivier Mourgue, Paulin developed chairs, sofas, dining tables and other furnishings with flowing lines and almost surreal naturalistic forms. And his work became such a byword for chic, forward-looking design and emerging technologies that two French presidents commissioned him to create environments in the Élysée Palace in Paris.

Paulin was born in Paris to a family of artists and designers. He initially sought to become a ceramist and sculptor and was studying in the town of Vallauris near the Côte d'Azur — a center for pottery making, where Pablo Picasso spent his postwar summers crafting ceramics — but broke his hand in a fight. He enrolled at the École Camondo, the Paris interior design school. There, Paulin was strongly influenced by the work of Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson and Arne Jacobsen, as was reflected in his early creations for the manufacturer Thonet-France.

It was at the Dutch firm Artifort, which he joined in 1958, where Paulin blossomed. In a few years, he produced several of his signature designs based on abstract organic shapes. These include the Butterfly chair (1963), which features a tubular steel frame and slung leather, and a group of striking seating pieces made with steel frames covered in polyurethane foam and tight jersey fabric: the Mushroom (1960), Ribbon (1966) and Tongue (1967) chairs. The revered designer not only introduced new construction techniques to Artifort furniture but contributed fresh materials, Pop art colors and dazzling shapes to the mid-century modern era as a whole.

In 1971, the Mobilier National — a department of France’s Ministry of Culture in charge of furnishing top-tier government offices and embassies — commissioned Paulin to redesign President Georges Pompidou’s private apartment in the Élysée Palace. In three years, Paulin transformed the staid rooms into futuristic environments with curved, fabric-clad walls and furnishings such as bookcases made from an arrangement of smoked-glass U shapes, flower-like pedestal chairs and pumpkin-esque loungers.

Ten years later, the Mobilier National called on Paulin again, this time to furnish the private office of President François Mitterand. Paulin responded with an angular, postmodern take on neoclassical furniture, pieces that looked surprisingly at home in the paneled, Savonnerie-carpeted Louis XVI rooms. As those two Élysée Palace projects show, Paulin furniture works well both in a total decor or when used as a counterpoint to traditional pieces. His creations have a unique personality: bright and playful yet sophisticated and suave.

Find vintage Pierre Paulin lounge chairs, armchairs, coffee tables and other furniture on 1stDibs.

Mobilier International was a prominent French furniture company that produced high-end pieces for the French market in the latter half of the 20th century. The company’s mid-century modern offerings boasted a relaxed and functional elegance. Known mainly for its leather lounge chairs and chaise lounges, Mobilier International also distributed pieces like cocktail tables and writing desks.

The story of Mobilier International began in 1955, when Michel Schulmann established Arflex France to import Italian Arflex furniture and SICAF to import Scandinavian and other Italian designs. In 1957, Shulman set up Mobilier International to bring the whole collection together under a single brand. 

One of the company’s first significant imports was in 1959 with the Superleggera chair by Italian designer Gio Ponti. That same year, Mobilier International signed a contract to manufacture and sell Herman Miller furniture. The company had established itself as one of the few to offer mid-to-high-end modern furniture in France.

Throughout the 1960s, Mobilier International opened several manufacturing facilities. The company also introduced many now iconic designs, including Marco Zanuso’s Woodline armchair and the DSC 106 chair by Giancarlo Piretti. In 1968 alone, Mobilier International ordered 2,000 to 3,000 DSC 106 chairs per month to distribute in France.

In 1972, designer George Ciancimino created an interlocking aluminum furniture line for Mobilier International. The company also collaborated with Pierre Paulin on the Pacha furniture line for public buildings like hospitals and museums. Meanwhile, it continued importing international designs, like the Tizio lamp created by Richard Sapper for the Italian lighting company Artemide.

Mobilier International worked with several big names in furniture design throughout the 1980s, including Bruno Gecchelin, Pascal Mourgue and Bernard Govin.

In 1991, Mobilier International was sold to Haworth, an international office furniture manufacturer, ending the production of the company’s lounge chairs. Schulmann retired in 1994 and died in 2004, at the age of 94.

On 1stDibs, find Mobilier International seating, tables and more.