The Legacy of French Modern Design in Paris’s 11th Arrondissement
Editor Dami Yoo (Paris) | Photographer Sunghoon Park (Paris)
Thierry Lamoine lives in Paris’s lively 11th arrondissement. More than 40 years ago, he put up walls and created rooms in an empty space with no water or electricity, building the home he lives in today. He then began collecting, filling it with furniture by the designers who captivated him, including Jean Prouvé, Pierre Jeanneret, Le Corbusier, and Charlotte Perriand. As word spread, people around him began asking him to find vintage pieces for them. The care he put into sourcing them one by one led him to open Galerie One. Filled with the legacy of French modern designers, his home now serves as a gallery, office, and showroom. Family, staff, clients, and guests come and go every day, and the professional and the personal blend together. Asked about the pros and cons of this way of life, Thierry answered clearly: “There are only advantages, and not a single disadvantage.”
This interview is featured in Issue 1.
Living in the same home for more than 40 years is quite remarkable. You must have witnessed firsthand how the 11th arrondissement has changed.
Back then, the 11th was a kind of “ghetto.” Today it’s full of charming bistros and shops worth browsing, but at the time it was such a desolate neighborhood that you had to cross the Seine just to eat out. This building had no electricity or water, let alone heating. It was just an empty space with pigeons flying around. It took a long time and many stages to turn it into the comfortable home it is now. Fortunately, we had a friend who gave us important advice on planning and designing the space. With the help of Jean-François Bodin, the architect behind the Musée Picasso Paris, the Musée Matisse de Nice, and the City of Paris Museum of Modern Art, we first put up walls to create a bedroom and a bathroom. Next, we made two rooms for my sons, Lucca and Simon. Then we filled each room with good furniture, shaping a space that was both appealing and suited to our lifestyle.
Is that why every corner of the house feels like an artist’s atelier, or even a gallery or storage vault? The way vintage modern pieces, including the Standard chair, are placed so naturally is wonderful.
We like to arrange design pieces on par with gallery or museum collections so that we can use them in everyday life. Unlike artworks, furniture is meant to be actively used. That’s how you come to understand the designer’s ingenious ideas and discover how practical an object really is.
When did you start collecting furniture?
Around 1980. That’s also when I started buying Jean Prouvé’s Standard chairs. Back then, you could often come across Prouvé’s work at the Paris flea markets on weekends, and you could buy a Standard chair for about 50 euros. Galerie Patrick Seguin, now known as one of the world’s most prestigious design galleries, was probably in its early days too. Every week, I made the rounds of galleries and antique markets in Paris, immersing myself in pieces from the 1950s. Meeting and getting to know dealers this way broadened my interest in and knowledge of furniture. Since then, I’ve collected only postwar design from the 1950s when it comes to furniture.
Was there a particular reason you were drawn to postwar design?
At the time, art deco furniture already had such high status that it was priced far beyond my reach. And 1980s design wasn’t to my taste. Postwar design from the 1950s and 1960s, on the other hand, struck me as very modern. The prototype of the Standard chair was created in the 1930s, but I think it still looks refined and contemporary today, in 2024.
Could we say that 1950s postwar design is your “standard” when it comes to collecting design?
When I buy furniture, I have two key criteria: owning it and using it. That’s also why I’m devoted to 1950s design. Postwar design is well known for being practical. Long ago, I saw a SCAL bed, wardrobe, and chair arranged together in matching yellow at Galerie Patrick Seguin. I was captivated and bought them as a set. My two sons grew up using that Jean Prouvé bed from the time they were born. Recently I sold one of the two beds to a friend, and we still use the other one. It’s sturdy and durable enough to be used for all these years without any problems. That fits both criteria perfectly, don’t you think?
Between the time spent with your beloved family and a home full of treasured pieces, this must be a very special place for you.
When Lucca and Simon were little, I loved watching them play here. They rode their tricycles around the furniture, played soccer using two Standard chairs as goalposts at either end, and sometimes set up a net on a large Charlotte Perriand table to play table tennis. Of course, that was only possible because the furniture is so sturdy that it never broke, however roughly the kids treated it. Lucca and Simon were very creative and enthusiastic about using our furniture to have fun together. Now the two boys are old enough to understand that they lived in a wonderful place filled with great, rare furniture, and they’ve finally moved out on their own.
Having grown up surrounded by such special furniture, Lucca and Simon must have been greatly influenced by your taste. Conversely, how have your two sons influenced you and your wife?
I think it wasn’t just the design furniture. Taking them around the galleries in Paris every week must have shaped their sensibilities too. For example, Simon is a film director but also has a vision of becoming a furniture designer, and Lucca, a fashion designer, has a strong creative side. Perhaps that’s why he draws inspiration from so many different fields and is passionate about so many things. He’s a big fan of contemporary art, music, film, and especially bread. He eats a whole baguette every day… (laughs) Anyway, the way Lucca influences me is how he always looks at so many things in the world with curiosity and soaks them up like a sponge. Watching him teaches me that I should try to stay open-minded too.
Seeing you both wearing the same sweater today, it’s clear you really do influence each other.
That was a complete coincidence (laughs). But actually, it happens quite often.
It’s also interesting that the home where your children once ran around is now a place where you work together.
Lucca runs the fashion brand Verlan while also working with me at Galerie One, which deals in French postwar design furniture. I do the same. My main job is introducing the crafts of Japanese artisans and Japanese brands to France, so I spend six months of the year in Japan. During that time, Lucca takes care of the gallery work in Paris. Sharing a workspace with Lucca is one of the great joys of my life. As we work, we talk about the pieces that interest each of us whenever we can, and the time we spend together has a big influence on both of us. We also really enjoy discussing every piece that comes in or goes out, and rearranging the furniture together.
When did you start using your home as a gallery, showroom, and office?
Since 1988. That’s when I left behind a 28-year career in advertising and started my own business distributing Japanese brands like Porter in France. I looked at many places that could serve as both a showroom and an office, but it was hard to find one that met my requirements. Nowhere had the good natural light, calm atmosphere, and high ceilings this place has. In the end, I changed my habits and decided to use my home as a showroom and office. Since then, my team has been coming to work at our house. I invite gallery clients here as well. The members of Lucca’s brand work here with us too.
The space that pairs Pierre Jeanneret’s dining table and Project Chandigarh chairs with chairs by Jean Prouvé and Charlotte Perriand is striking.
This is where I work. My favorite piece is Jean Prouvé’s Métropole No. 306, which has been “my chair” for 40 years. I use it every day. I bought it more than 40 years ago from Didier Teisso, a Paris collector. He still deals passionately in postwar design and has studied Le Corbusier in particular in great depth. Back then, I first spotted this blue Standard chair with faux leather upholstery in his small gallery in the Marais. I fell in love with it instantly and decided to buy it within three minutes. I still vividly remember that day. I paid for it on the spot, put the chair in the trunk of my car, and drove home.
With works by France’s leading 1950s designers in such harmony, this place feels as if the designers of that era have gathered here together.
The combination of Jean Prouvé, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand, and Le Corbusier works brilliantly for us, since we enjoy moving furniture around to change the layout. Maybe it’s because they influenced one another at the time, but even though these pieces were made by different designers and used in different places, they always go well together. Mixed together, they never look cluttered or out of place. Pierre Jeanneret’s blue chair is Lucca’s favorite. It came from an administrative office in Chandigarh, India, and apparently the person using it painted it simply because they liked blue. In the vintage world, stories like this make an object even more special.
How do you view the status and value of these five designers today?
They’re on the list of the most famous designers. Prices are shooting up like a rocket! In fact, until the 1980s and 1990s, Jean Prouvé’s designs were barely known. Only a very small number of design enthusiasts knew about them, and even finding accurate information was difficult. Back then, the only places you could see Prouvé’s work were galleries specializing in 1950s design, like Galerie Patrick Seguin and the Philippe Jousse gallery, and a handful of others. As I recall, his designs gradually became known when gallery opinion leaders began publishing exhibition catalogs on Jean Prouvé and collaborating with or taking part in exhibitions at places like the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Art Basel, and the Paris International Contemporary Art Fair. They succeeded in catching the eye of contemporary art collectors, and soon major auction houses such as Christie’s and Sotheby’s joined in, making the design market fully international. The Standard chair in particular became something highly influential collectors set their sights on.
What about the general public in France? Isn’t Jean Prouvé considered one of France’s leading designers?
Actually, for now he’s mainly popular among people interested in design or collecting. What I find interesting is the response among fashion designers around the world. Yohji Yamamoto, for one, is famous for placing Jean Prouvé’s very rare Trapèze table in his stores in Paris and Tokyo. Fashion designer Azzedine Alaïa installed a Jean Prouvé gas station in his home and set up a bedroom inside it, and Marc Jacobs was also an avid collector. Jean Prouvé seems to have the power to draw the attention of creative people. Many of our friends and collectors also work in creative industries, as musicians, fashion designers, film directors, art directors, and advertising creatives.
Want to dive deeper?
Issue.01 Standard Chair
The Standard Chair traces its origins to Chair No. 4, created in 1934 by French designer and architect Jean Prouvé. Over many years, Prouvé refined its materials and design, arriving in the 1950s at a 'standard' chair suited to mass production.
