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DESIGNER PORTRAIT

Marcel Gascoin

1907 - 1986

French designer Marcel Gascoin (1907-1986) was one of the leading

furniture designers of the post-war era. He played a vital role in the

reconstruction of France after World War II, where his streamlined

wooden furniture, focused on clean aesthetics and functionality,

became the staple for 1950s French households.

Gascoin worked as an interior architect and designer with the

French Ministry of Reconstruction and Urbanism to design and

build homes and the furniture to fill them during the post-war

housing crisis in France. Forward-thinking for his time and with a

strong social conscience, Gascoin’s democratic design drew lines

between art and industry, converging clean aesthetics with rational

manufacturing processes.

Today Gascoin’s work, unrecognized for a long time, has been

progressively rediscovered by collectors, who adore his simple and

striking furniture creations.