Jean Royére

In 1931, 29-year-old Jean Royère (1902–1981) resigned from a comfortable position in the import–export trade to set up business as an interior designer. He learned his new trade in the cabinetmaking workshops of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine in Paris. In 1934, he designed the new layout of the Brasserie Carlton on the Champs Elysées and found immediate success, embarking on an international career that was to endure for nearly half a century. The Royère style is a wonderful amalgam of bright, cheery colors, subtly organic forms and precious materials.

Co-edited by Galerie Jacques Lacoste and Galerie Patrick Seguin, this linen-bound, two-volume boxed monograph showcases the work of the legendary French furniture and interior designer. Volume I explores Royère’s body of work across four main themes and is illustrated with modern and archival photos. Volume II opens with a 1963 interview with the designer by Pascal Renous, and then presents 380 items of furniture and other creations accompanied by detailed references and illustrations of variants. The volume is rounded off by a sketchbook offering 156 previously unpublished Royère drawings. This authoritative and sumptuous publication is the last word on this midcentury master.