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Renowned as a visionary and one of the great French 20th-century designers, Pierre Paulin (1927-2009) was revered for his modernist vision and chic style. His forward-looking furniture was embodied by simplicity, durability and functionality that had been inspired by the work of Charles and Ray Eames, Scandinavian furniture and the Japanese aesthetic. Somewhere between the organic and naturalistic, the flowing lines, surreal forms and use of rich colours and fabrics fostered a new space-age style that made him a firm favourite with the rich and famous, including two French presidents who commissioned him to decorate areas of the Élysée Palace in Paris.
The Multimo sofa and armchairs were conceived in 1969 at a critical point in Paulin’s oeuvre. He was by then working for the Dutch firm Artifort, in that year he won the Chicago design award, whilst his furniture designs had also been acquired for the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Multimo series conveys the main characteristics which placed him at the forefront of 20th-century furniture design practice with their graphic colours, smooth sculptural curves and chic sensuality. This is a rare and outstanding example of the designer’s furniture that infrequently comes to the market due to the fact that it was only made in very small numbers.
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