Sobriété, élégance, confort, luxe c'est aujourd'hui

Following his studies at the École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the architect and décorateur Jacques Adnet joined the Maîtrise workshop of the Galeries Lafayette in 1922. The workshop's director, the designer Maurice Dufrêne became an important collaborator and friend to Adnet, supporting his appointment as artistic director of the Compagnie des Arts Français in 1928. Founded in 1919 by Louis Süe and André Mare in the spirit of renewing the tradition of the French decorative arts, under the young Adnet's leadership, the Compagnie des Arts Français became a 'laboratoire de modernité', embracing geometric simplicity and modern materials. That year, at the 18th Salon des Artistes décorateurs, Adnet exhibited furnishings for a bedroom, which made evident this new visual language. The furniture comprised seemingly regimented forms executed using luxurious materials otherwise devoid of ornamentation. A notable element within the interior was the present model table lamp. The design featured two intersecting squares made from silver-plated tubular metal and four integrated fluorescent bulbs, supported on an ebony base. Adnet also applied this architectural structure to designs for ceiling and wall lights, in which the configurations of right angles were informed by the shape and number of the exposed linear bulbs. Adnet was among the first designers to incorporate metal and glass into the structure of his furnishings, which he also celebrated for their aesthetic value within his interiors: ‘l’intérieur doit être comme l’extérieur’ (Blaise Cendrars, extract from a poem written on the invitation for the opening of the new Compagnie des Arts Français, Paris, 1928).