Pierre Paulin, the armchair as landscape

Pierre Paulin (1927-2009) spent his life freeing seating from its weight. A French designer trained at Camondo, he joined the Dutch publisher Artifort in the 1960s, who gave him carte blanche. So came the armchairs that built his legend: Tongue (1967), Mushroom (1959), Ribbon (1966), Tulipe, Globe. All share the same intuition: that seating is not a chair but a landscape where the body settles. When President Pompidou asked him to redesign the private apartments of the Élysée, Paulin entered the history of French design through the front door.

Pierre Paulin armchairs are recognisable by their tubular structure wrapped in high-density foam and coloured stretch fabric. Tongue, Mushroom, Ribbon: all vintage pieces now graals for 60s-70s design lovers. To hunt for anyone seeking a seat that looks like a sculpture.