Pierre Paulin

Pierre Paulin began designing for Artifort in 1958, and the partnership ran for roughly half a century.

His method was consistent: a steel tube frame, foam over it, stretch fabric over that. Removing the visible wooden leg let him treat a chair as a single continuous shape, which is why the results read as sculpture before they read as furniture. The Orange Slice arrived in 1960, the Mushroom in 1959, the Ribbon Chair in 1966 and the Tongue in 1968.

Paulin was later commissioned to design interiors at the Élysée Palace for presidents Pompidou and Mitterrand, and his Artifort pieces are still made to the original patterns.