Pierre Paulin

Pierre Paulin (Paris, 1927 – 2009) learned stone carving in Beaune and ceramics in Vallauris before entering the École Camondo, which he left in 1953. He worked in the studio of Marcel Gascoin, discovered Scandinavian design on a journey to the North Cape, published his first furniture in 1952 and worked for Thonet until 1959, before the collaboration with the Dutch firm Artifort that would produce his best-known seats.

Between 1958 and 1968, Paulin borrowed his solutions from the car industry: tubular structure, moulded foam, a stretch fabric cover pulled taut like a garment, aluminium glides. The seat is no longer assembled; it is formed.

The Groovy armchair was born of this research. It was designed in 1964 under the reference F580, then reworked: the final version, F598, was developed in the early 1970s and enjoyed wide success before production stopped. Galerie 90 presents two examples.