About Jacques Adnet

The French devised furniture that's at once discreet and voluptuous. The French Modernism School of the forties produced tables and chairs of esteemed designer Jacques Adnet that look almost mid-century modern, with simple lines dressed up in vivid materials such as brass and shagreen. His handcrafted ca. 1947 desk, for instance, is minimalist in aesthetic only. Jacques Adnet was born in Chatillion-Coligny, France in 1900. For more than thirty years, Jacques Adnet was the director of the Compagnie des Arts Francais, founded by Sue et Mare in 1919. His team of artists and decorators included: Francis Jourdain, Charlotte Perriand, Alexandre Noll, Serge Mouille and Georges Jouve. His style incorporated the use of the very expensive veneers. After the Second World War, he was President of the Salon des Artistes Decorateurs from 1948 to 1949 and he exhibited regularly there and at the Salon des Arts Menagers. During the 1950s he created leather-covered furniture with Hermes. He redecorated Frank Jay Gould's house, Mme. Alice Cocea's apartment, the study of the French President at the chateau de Rambouillet (1947), the private apartments of President Vincent Auriol at the Elysee, many luxury ocean liners like the Ferdinand de Lesseps (1952),Unesco (1958). In 1959, he ceased his activities with the Compagnie des Arts francais to direct the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs.