Collection: Serge Mouille
Serge Mouille was born in Paris in 1922. He developed a talent for drawing very early. He finds his models at the Jardin des Plantes where he spends entire hours drawing plants and animals. On the advice of his drawing teacher, he entered the Applied Arts entrance exam where he was accepted at the age of 13, the youngest student of his time. His mentor Gabriel Lacroix will make him a Master in the Art of hammering metal. He entered Hénin Orfèvre Paris where he soon established himself in the midst of experienced workers, all older than him.
After the war, Serge Mouille started his own business and worked for various Maisons d'Orfèvrerie. He is a craftsman recognized by all. At the same time, he works as a teacher at the National School of Applied Arts and Crafts having succeeded Gabriel Lacroix at the head of the goldsmith's workshop. He devoted his whole life to the profession of teacher but also to that of researcher because it should not be forgotten, Serge Mouille is also and above all 44 years of research, drawings and monogravures.
It was his meeting with Jacques Adnet, director of the Compagnie des Arts Français, in 1951 that marked a turning point in his life. Indeed, he asked him to design a "large light" for his South American clientele. Serge got to work and created the Three-Arm Floor Lamp, gradually going from master craftsman status to that of creative artist by developing the now famous series of Black Shapes. The three-arm floor lamp, the right floor lamp will be the first models.
Spearheading modernity and the movement of functional integration for interior design, the Steph Simon gallery is emblematic of the development of the Left Bank in the avant-garde furniture trade. Commercial agent for French Aluminum, Steph Simon meets Jean Prouvé, who hired him in 1949 to distribute his furniture. In March 1956, he opened the Steph Simon gallery at 145 Boulevard Saint-Germain. Charlotte Perriand takes care of the layout of the place. For Steph Simon, this gallery must have a "shocking character" and periodically offer exhibitions. It presents exclusive models by Jean Prouvé and Charlotte Perriand, lighting by Serge Mouille, ceramics by Georges Jouve and Norbert Pierlot. Later, he broadcasts the plays of Isamu Noguchi, Sori Yanagi, Tecno ... The gallery closed in 1974.
1962: the world has changed. Serge Mouille, for the past ten years, has led his career as a teacher and as a lighting designer. He then decides to radically differentiate himself from everything he has done so far by creating the series of light columns using the fluorescent tube, new at the time. The two series are so different that you would think they were created by different artists. It is misunderstanding and a mixed success. He decided to stop producing lights in 1963 and devoted himself entirely to teaching. Serge died in 1988, during Christmas night, defeated by disease.
