I recently stumbled upon the astonishing furniture of French designer Jean Royère, thanks to the Flickr set of our recent guest blogger, Neville Trickett. I’d never seen Royère’s work before, so was intrigued to find out more.
Jean Royère (1902-1981) was a key figure of the Avant-garde in the 1950s, with a distinctive and unusual style, combining bright colors, organic forms and precious materials.
Royère enjoyed great success with his work from 1934 until the 1970s, and included among his patrons, King Farouk, King Hussein of Jordan, and the Shah of Iran, all of whom entrusted him with the layout of their palaces. In 1946, he opened a gallery in Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honore for the purpose of exhibiting his collections, and also opened branch offices in Cairo, Beirut, Peru and Iran.
Royère left France in the 1980s to settle in the USA, where he lived until his death in 1981, but before leaving France, he donated his archives to the Museum of the Decorative Arts of Paris.
Read more about Jean Royère here, try to get your hands on an out-of-print copy of Catherine Beyrie’s book about him, and see more images at Neville Trickett’s Flickr, and also at Architonic.
