Mobilier national
January 20, 2011What is the Mobilier national?
France’s reputation for its extraordinary decorative arts heritage is well deserved. The Republic’s official interest in creating, maintaining and distributing its cultural identity in the decorative arts and design has been going on since the 17th century with the creation of the Mobilier national.
The Mobilier national’s primary mission is to furnish the official buildings of the Republic around the globe and promote French culture. The government agency is also charged with maintaining the French national collection of important furniture dating to the 17th century as well as the creation of new tapestries, carpets and furniture through through the national Manufacturers that the agency oversees. The ‘atelier for Recherche et de Creation’ (ARC) is responsible for producing furniture prototypes.
The ARC was created in 1964 by the current Minister of Culture, Andre Malraux, and concides with the end of France’s reconstruction and modernization period beginning in the 1950s. The atelier has since enabled the Mobilier national to evolve into the 21st century. Its mission, amongst others, is to ‘promote contemporary techniques in furniture design.’ To date, the ARC has created over 500 prototypes since its inception, calling upon nearly every accomplished French designer one can think of: from Pierre Paulin and Olivier Mourgue in the 70s, to Garouste and Bonetti and Martin Szekely in the 1980s and the Bourroullec brothers Ronan and Erwan in the 1990s. Today, the Mobilier national, through the ARC, continues to promote artistic creativity in France, providing the resources and possibilities to experiment with new techniques and materials.
Among one the ARC’s most important commissions was in its first years. In 1969 under the direction of Jean Coural, the ARC asked Pierre Paulin to furnish the private apartments of President George Pompidou at the Palais de L’Elysee after a special request from the President himself.. Paulin conceived the decoration of the space, designed the furniture and oversaw the execution of the prototypes in the ARC workshop. Pompidou requested a modern environment to exhibit his contemporary art collection, but one which would be reversible in order to protect the original 18th century walls of the Palace, so Paulin created a grand structure in jersey which would become emblematic of Paulin’s work. He made tables, lights, sofas and chairs – a number of which were then edited in small series by Alpha International whom collaborated with Mobilier national for distribution and larger production. A small portion of the proceeds from this series was to be returned back to the Mobilier national.
As part of its mission to disseminate french design globally, in 1967 the Mobilier national requested Olivier Mourgue to design the seats and tables for the French pavilion at Expo 1967 in Montreal. Again in 1970, the Mobilier national commissioned Pierre Paulin for the exposition univeral in Osaka for which he created the now famous ‘Amphis’ sofa. In both cases, these prototypes gave way to editions through commercial entreprises to further distribute the ideas and designs created within the ARC.
Today, the Mobilier national is active as ever in promoting French decorative arts and design as well as its national workshops. As connoisseurship becomes more and more important in today’s collecting fields, the work of ARC, while still little known or understood in America, has certainly done its job. We have a lot of catching up to do.
See attached article by Marc Kristal for Dwell for additional information