Jacques Adnet (19011984)

An icon of French Modernism, Jacques Adnet believed in combining functionality, luxury and geometrical simplicity. He attended the Municipal School of Design in Auxerre and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. From 1928 to 1960, he directed La Compagnie des Arts Francais, building up a team of decorators that included Francois Jourdain, Charlotte Perriand and Georges Jouve. Adnet also presided over the Salon des Artistes Decorateurs from 1947 to 1949. During the ‘50s, he alternated between furniture design and the numerous commissions he received for interiors (such as the decoration of the private apartments of the President at the Elysée Palace). In 1959 he was appointed director of the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs in Paris. Distinctly avant-garde, Adnet’s designs are striking for their incorporation of materials like leather, precious woods, smoked glass and chromed metal, their structural simplicity, refinement and modernity.