Brigitte’s connection with metal goes back to her family history. “I grew up in that world,” she explains. Xavier Pauchard, her great-great-uncle, was the Burgundian industrialist behind Tolix, a trademark registered in 1927.
This manufacturer of metal chairs and tables also created the Model A chair in the mid-1930s. A stackable chair made from galvanised sheet metal, it was designed above all to be practical, robust and inexpensive… and went on to become a familiar silhouette. It appeared on café terraces, in workshops, parks and hospitals, before finding its way into fashionable interiors in the 21st century.
From the Factory to 18th-Century Furniture
Xavier Pauchard’s grandsons — Brigitte’s cousins — later took over the company in Autun. “I remember the country house where the family would gather to spend the day by Lake Settons,” recalls the industrial furniture expert.
Naturally, metal chairs filled the house. “But what is amusing,” Brigitte Durieux continues, “is that this furniture could be found in practically every communal living space within the company’s local area. I remember, for example, going for treatments at the thermal spa in Saint-Honoré-les-Bains, in the Morvan. From the dining hall to the dormitories, the entire children’s home was furnished with Tolix!”
The industrial design expert discovered the world of antiques through her paternal grandmother, “a great admirer of 18th-century antiques, who was one of the most loyal customers of the dealers in Autun. By contrast, my maternal grandmother was very much oriented towards modernity.”
An Ambition That Had to Change Course
These three family perspectives sharpened her “ability to read art in the broadest sense” and inspired her first vocation: “When I was at secondary school, I absolutely wanted to become an auctioneer. Because of art in general… but also because of the image of that person holding a hammer!” she laughs. “What appeals to me from a social point of view is the idea that an object can have several lives, that it can travel from a château to a small living room, and be passed from one art lover to another.”
However, the path towards that profession seemed inaccessible. Brigitte was one of seven children: “It was difficult to imagine my parents being able to finance the necessary training and then the purchase of an auctioneer’s practice.”
She eventually left the Morvan to study modern literature at the University of Burgundy. Her passion for writing and her curiosity naturally led her towards journalism.
Mix and Match
After getting married, she finally discovered the world of flea markets and second-hand dealers “through the eyes of the father of my sons. And this world, which I knew nothing about, became a way of life.” Leisure time was divided between the motocross tracks where her three sons competed… and visits to dealers working from barns and warehouses in surrounding villages. “Outdoor fairs were still quite rare in the early days, in the 1970s and 1980s!”
The family apartment naturally reflected this love of furniture and objects with a history. “I don’t know what a new furniture store is,” our interviewee admits. Long before today’s eclectic trend, a Thonet chair in her home would sit alongside a rustic 18th-century wardrobe and a 19th-century light fixture.
The Workshop Spirit
The design of her eldest son’s bedroom in the early 1980s marked the beginnings of her fascination with furniture and accessories from the industrial world. “We bought metal tubes from a DIY store to make the bed and desk, and hung a perforated board on the wall so that objects could be suspended from it, just like in a mechanic’s workshop. We also found a small toolbox for storing his pencils, a Jieldé lamp, a workshop chair… Everything was repainted in red and black.”
It would nevertheless take a few more years before Brigitte became interested in industrial heritage, and this happened entirely by chance.
“In 2004, I was asked to write a series of articles on interior decoration,” she recalls. At the time, the journalist worked in particular on Tolix. The company had experienced difficulties and had just been taken over.
Following the article, her partner, who worked in publishing, encouraged her to continue her research and pursue her curiosity. The work of these industrial manufacturers deserved greater recognition: “They succeeded where designers could not. And why? Because their objective was to sell, and to do that they had to manufacture at reasonable cost, which meant simplifying production.”
A Blank Page
The self-taught historian then began writing Inoxydable Tolix. “The book was published in the same year that fashionable cafés in the Marais began furnishing their terraces with these sheet-metal chairs. It was presented as an expression of this trend and of the growing interest in industrial furniture at the time.”
The success of the book enabled her to continue investigating other iconic pieces. “In fact, nothing had been written about factory lockers, articulated lamps or workshop chairs.” She therefore had to read extensively: “I built up a library, reread literature from the late 19th century, but also authors from the 1970s who had gone to work in factories, as well as writings on working-class conditions by the philosopher Simone Weil…”
From folding furniture used during the Napoleonic campaigns to the small beds placed under the rooftops for the saleswomen of Le Bon Marché described by Zola: “Whenever I came across a word relating to industrial furniture in a book, I marked the passage.”
Celebrating Collective Memory
This almost “monastic life” of research was complemented by a search for factories still in operation, meetings with former company owners and the heirs of brands such as Flambo, as well as investigations into the Nicolle chair.
She also travelled throughout Europe, China and the United States. “I have so many memories of delightful people, often elderly, whom I brought out of anonymity at a moment when they were not expecting it. I also want to pay tribute to the entire team at the Merci concept store. These collectors introduced me to things that had escaped my attention.”
The tireless researcher has far from finished investigating creations from the past. She is currently studying the history of another emblematic piece, collaborating with architects on projects related to industrial heritage and collective memory, and regularly contributing her expertise to dealers seeking to identify objects.
Did she miss out on the life of an auctioneer? She has no regrets: “In the end, life took me exactly where I wanted to go.”
From the Shadows into the Spotlight
The old objects that second-hand dealers used to throw away before the 2000s suddenly began to reappear, “thanks to the persistence of dealers in L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue,” such as Laurent Ardonceau. “Preferring metal to wood and simplicity to ornamentation, they invented the metal furniture aesthetic we know today. This typically French cultural phenomenon first appeared in the cafés of the Marais in Paris.” It went through several phases: “first came pieces with a strong presence, often black, before the design gradually became more refined over the years.” Dealers discovered that surfaces could be sanded to highlight the character of the metal: first polished steel, then patinated finishes.
“After around ten years, these design pieces eventually won over the art world and the heads of design departments.” Their utilitarian and social purpose, smooth surfaces and lack of ornamentation “echo the approach of the UAM” — the Union des Artistes Modernes, founded in 1929 to promote a modern, functional and accessible way of living — notes the specialist. “The trend established itself as a style. Industrial design is now rediscovered through a selection of its finest pieces.”
Find Out More:
- Inoxydable Tolix, by Brigitte Durieux, Éditions La Martinière
- Le mobilier industriel, Quand l'utile devient style, by Brigitte Durieux, Éditions La Martinière
- Objets cultes du mobilier industriel, by Brigitte Durieux, Éditions La Martinière
Cécile Ybert