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In France, in the aftermath of the war, a generation of freshly-graduated designers decides to break the fixed codes of the past. Drawing on the technical innovations and the new materials of the era they invent, through the design of furniture with freely-drawn lines, resolutely modern ways of living which break with tradition. Of these, Pierre Guariche (1926-1995) is a pioneering figure. Amongst his iconic pieces: the Papyrus chair (1951), the Tonneau chair (1954), the G10 armchair (1953), the G30 lights, known as « Cerf-volant » (cc 1954), or even the G21 lights (1953), today reissued by Cinna.
Having graduated from the ENSAD in 1949, Pierre Guariche began his career in a society in which fundamental changes were afoot. The post war period was marked by the advent of industrial production and a great creative explosion. The technological innovations, the scientific advances, the creation of new materials and original production techniques imbued the designers of the time with passion, which they seized on as a way of breaking with tradition and inventing new ways of living.
When he left school, Pierre Guariche began working with Marcel Gascoin, one of the great designers of the time. He remained with him for three years before founding his own agency, and then went on to found the Atelier de recherches plastique (ARP) with Joseph-André Motte and Michel Mortier, which between 1953 and 1957 was to become a veritable laboratory. There he developed the principles of series production for interior architectural pieces. Thus, instead of working as a traditional interior decorator designing bespoke furniture for a client in a particular context, he developed models with the aim of putting them into production. In doing so he responded to specific questions relating to usage, technology and even production rationalisation; and without practising industrial design in the established sense of the word, contributed to developing its function.
His research, principally angled towards domestic furnishing and lighting issues, was to give way to the creation of original and innovative models such as the Papyrus chair (1951-54, Steiner), the first chair made from a single piece of moulded plywood, produced in France, or the Vallée Blanche chaise longue.
In terms of lighting, most notably his particularly fruitful collaboration with the manufacturer Pierre Disderot, Pierre Guariche was one of the first French designers to conduct extensive research into the way in which the home was lit and lighting function. He then developed a flexible system based on three types of light (a wall light, floor lamp and ceiling light), all of which had arms or counter weights which enabled the light to be angled to best suit the space, and also various lighting functions (direct, indirect and ambient), such as the Cerf-volant and its white lacquered perforated sheet steel shade.
Pierre Guariche’s products
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