André Monpoix – Design at the Helm
BY AURÉLIEN JEAUNEAU
A fresh breath is animating the Mobilier National. This institution, which centralizes, restores, purchases, and assigns French furniture for government offices and presidential residences, continues to make headlines! This time, the spotlight is on André Monpoix.
André Monpoix (1925–1976) was one of the major figures of French design in the 1950s, though he remains little known to the general public. From the same generation as Pierre Guariche and Pierre Paulin (with whom he worked on the interior architecture of the Louvre and the Élysée Palace), he was the one who passed away the earliest, in 1976, in a car accident.
This Parisian, grandson of a cabinetmaker, developed high-end furniture with clean, precise lines for the publisher Meubles TV, designed for series production. Among his creations are a bedroom set (one of the most beautiful of the era), a floating coffee table, and a revolutionary armchair in metal and scoubidou in 1954.
Source Édition, a very young furniture publisher founded by Isabelle de Ponfilly and Joséphine Bursacchi (mother and daughter), is bringing this designer and a forgotten armchair, sweetly named Dialogue, back to life.
This re-edition came about by happy accident: a folder of sketches in a box, which shouldn't have been there, caught the attention of Joséphine, head of artistic direction at Source Édition. Far from Monpoix's usual forms, the living room program from which the armchair emerged stands out for its modernity. Isabelle's keen eye immediately placed it in the brand's catalog!
The chair is reborn exactly as the designer envisioned sixty years ago: a solid wood frame, dressed with white melamine panels, supporting a latex foam seat. The timeless design and the prestige of having been in Simone Veil's ministerial offices make this a heritage piece to adopt immediately!
Monpoix in the Second-Hand Market
The founders of Source Édition have observed that vintage designer furniture is becoming increasingly rare on the market. Sometimes you have to wait, or even give up, when a specific piece is missing from a collector's inventory. In this context, re-edition of little-known furniture offers an exciting alternative!
For those nostalgic for the De Gaulle and Coty years and who might miss the patina, there are other creations by André Monpoix—but beware, buying second-hand won't save much: the designer's pieces are scarce on the secondary market, and the most interesting ones go straight to antique dealers in Paris! So farewell to the Japanese-inspired coffee tables and slim benches from the early 1950s. The Meubles TV 151 armchair is a marvel of proportion and lightness, but be careful with the aging of the scoubidou, which makes up 80% of the chair: at €500 online, it should definitely be tested first!
