Pierre Paulin and Herman Miller: Playing with Shapes

Louis Vuitton unveils a 1972 unseen project by Pierre Paulin and Herman Miller: 18 never realised furniture pieces manufactured in occasion of Design Miami 2014 as a satellite show.

The project, which the French furniture designer and American furniture manufacturer conceived in 1972, will be presented in a satellite exhibition for the Miami Design District and displayed from December 2-7. The exhibition coincides with the publication of the 240-page “Pierre Paulin: l’homme et l’oeuvre” by Nadine Descendre.

In 2013, Louis Vuitton built Charlotte Perriand’s “La maison au bord de l’eau” (a U-shaped beach house conceived in 1934 but never realized) at Art Basel in Miami Beach with the help of Charlotte’s daughter Pernette Perriand and Perriand historian Jacques Barsac. The French fashion house even modeled its one of its 2014 ready-to-wear collections after Charlotte; with this project, it continues its tradition of spreading the word about France’s pioneering figures in architecture and design.

Paulin shot to fame after his debut exhibition at the Salon des Arts Ménagers in 1953 and was known to experiment with stretching swimwear materials over traditionally made chairs. He also worked at Maastricht-based Dutch manufacturer Artifort, where he produced his iconic Mushroom chair (1960). His designs were focused on applied design rather than form, and his rounder, more comfortable shapes have continued to influence modern chair designs to this day.