Jacques Adnet

Jacques Adnet (1900–1984) was a French designer and architect, counted among the leading figures of Art Deco and French Modernism. Born in Burgundy, he studied and worked together with his twin brother Jean Adnet, with whom he founded the studio JJ Adnet. During the 1920s, the two brothers worked under the guidance of Maurice Dufrène, director of La Maîtrise, the applied arts workshop of the Paris department store Galeries Lafayette, for which they designed furniture, ceramic objects, lighting, and carpets. In 1925, they were among the key participants in the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, an event that went down in history as the moment when the term “Art Deco” began to be used to describe the emerging design style of the period. A few years later, at the height of their success, the twin brothers went their separate ways: Jean became artistic director of Galeries Lafayette, while Jacques assumed the role of head of the Compagnie des Arts Français (CAF), one of France’s most important interior design firms. With CAF, he realized prestigious projects such as the apartment of French President Vincent Auriol (1947) and the conference room of UNESCO’s Paris headquarters (1958). Adnet was among the first designers to integrate metal and glass into the structure of furniture, striking a balance between Art Deco stylistic elements and the emerging modernist aesthetic. He is also remembered for his collaboration with the maison Hermès throughout the 1940s, which resulted in a series of luxury furnishings making extensive use of leather as a decorative element. This collection—an outstanding example of the application of haute saddlery principles to furniture design—is now reissued by the Danish brand Gubi. After the closure of CAF in 1959, Adnet was appointed director of the prestigious École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs in Paris, a position he held until 1971.