Dossier especial Universo : Armarios Cómodas

Maisons du Monde reissues Pierre Guariche.  Maisons du Monde is now offering 13 iconic pieces of furniture by famous 1950s French designer, Pierre Guariche. A welcome initiative renewing the designer’s original ambition: to make his furniture affordable for as many people as possible.

Since the 1980s and 90s, the appetite for a particular contemporary design – which had its heyday between the 1920s and 60s – hasn’t weakened.   In succession, many famous furniture brands have reproduced pieces that had gained cult status.

Coinciding with the birth of industrialisation, this early contemporary furniture was destined to be mass produced thanks to new materials, such as plastic and fibreglass. The designers saw in these a way to develop furniture with a new, refined aesthetic. But they also saw the opportunity to mass produce furniture that was affordable for as many people as possible.

Among them was Pierre Guariche, one of the most famous post-war designers in France. Mindful of matching his furniture to the means and room available to those living in the newly built apartments, he never strayed from this philosophy. The winner of the René Gabriel prize in 1965, he was made a knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1970.


By reproducing Pierre Guariche, Maisons du Monde renews this tradition of pricing within the reach of everyone, and following the designer’s plan to the letter. From the Coquillage chair through the Vampire, Jupiter, Mars or Mandarine armchairs to the Président desk, the brand offers 13 of the designer’s most iconic pieces of furniture. And although they are not mass produced – they are only available in the store’s 2013 catalogue – they are still very reasonably priced for these types of items.


A good illustration is the Tonneau chair. This innovative chair designed in 1954 was the first mass-produced plywood seat in France. Pierre Guariche quickly understood the potential of this ergonomic shell which lent itself to a variety models. Now a design reference, this piece retails at €129 for the fibreglass version and €189 for the leather version.

On the subject of armchairs, we should mention the famous Polaris armchair which retails at €159 for the coated textile version and €289 for the leather version. Its manufacture in 1965 marked a break in the artist’s creative journey, abandoning natural materials to explore the new design language made possible by synthetic materials.