Jean-Michel Frank: Between 1932 and 1940, J.M. Frank completely reinvented the vocabulary of decorative arts. Working in Paris, New York and South America, Frank was inspired by neo-classicism, abstract art and primitive art. He sought to create an original style for the thirties, a style whose elegance gained him the patronage of an elite clientele. J.M. Frank's name has come to serve as a reference for collectors. The decorative principles he created are still today the basis for the minimalist style that dominates contemporary decor. Le Corbusier: Le Corbusier is an architect of the 20th century. His perpetual interest in the lifestyle of his contemporaries andhis artistic dimension make him a stand out among other masters and constitute his genius. In the 1930s, he built the famous Purist Villas sculpture-houses that are still fascinating today. He invented comfort and space in the cells of his Unites d'habitation, radiant cities that are often deprecated but rarely equaled. He turned concrete into a noble material. He built a chapel as moving as a cathedral, a hut beyond perfection, and even an entire city in Northern India.
A pragmatic and visionary architect, Le Corbusier shook up our era with his vast and ever changing body of work, which still permeates our everyday life. Raymond Loewy: While Andy Warhol is known for creating icons, it is Raymond Loewy who built monuments. At once an engineer and a visionary, this master of streamlined design integrated movement into his designs in what would become a characteristic American way. Indeed, his drawings of the Coca-Cola truck, the Greyhound bus, the package of Lucky Strike cigarettes, the Studebacker automobile, and the bullet-nose train molded our vision of 20th century American iconography. Illustrated with photographs of Loewy's most notable designs, this memoir pays a tribute to a man who shaped the image of an entire nation with his pencil strokes. Pierre Paulin: A legendary figure in French design, Pierre Paulin reached the height of celebrity with his interiors of George Pompidou's Elysee and his furniture display at the Louvre. A champion of unified design, Paulin has created a new synthesis within interior architecture.
His chairs in the form of mushrooms, tongues, ribbons, tulips, even snakes, from the Exposition Universelle d'Osaka, are all made of foam and covered with colored jersey. They offer a range of forms that are rigorous, organic, functional and voluptuous. His furniture perfectly symbolizes the 60s and 70s. Recalling the evolution of society, Pierre Paulin's pieces have become cult objects, anchored in the collective unconscious of us all.