GILBERT POILLERAT (1902-1988)
Updated: Apr 26, 2025
Since his graduation in 1921 from the École Boulle, the French wrought-iron master Gilbert Poillerat developed solid skills in design and production. Unquestionably, having worked for over seven years for Edgar Brandt will stand him in good stead in the years to come.
Born to a family of millers, his father was a painter and his uncle a calligrapher. The young Gilbert had an artistic bent which naturally lead him to study sculpture, and engraving at the École Boulle with workshops in smithing, jewellery making, bronze casting, repoussé, chasing and metal turning.
He landed his first job for a jeweller-goldsmith and then worked for a short stint with Jean Dunand but this is with Edgar Brandt that he honed his skills for the next 6 years.
Poillerat was exposed to new ideas during the Art Deco movement and his training as a metal chiseler and engraver helped him further his techniques and consequently develop his unique style which is delicate and airy in appearance.
His motto was 'iron is not an accessory, it is an ornament'.
In 1927, armed with the expertise he had acquired from working for Edgar Brandt, he went on to work for a construction framework firm Baudet, Donon and Roussel where he was in charge of their decorative ironwork division, which produced screens, tables, andirons, lighting and grilles.
He stayed there until after World War II.
The role was the perfect opportunity for Poillerat to further his own style and hone his skills.
This pushed him to define his sensibility with wrought-iron and hard metal and execute works which were closer to calligraphy compared to his peers who were inspired from nature by using images of birds and flowers in their designs.
Poillerat was only recognised as a serious designer in 1929 when Rose des Vents - a wrought-iron grille was exhibited at the Salon des Artists Décorateurs. His work was a departure from the older tradition and style that was popular at the Exposition of 1925.
His work echoes with lace-like console tables combines with geometric shapes, together with a sense of movement and energy.
Over the first few years he made two radiator covers(1930), a bannister (1930) and a console table (1929) for James Rotchschilds at his London home.
The early 1930's where a time when Poillerat experimented with endless curves of iron which hark back to his exposure to calligraphy.
Inspired by historical forms, his earlier works echoed with fluidity and complex intertwining of wrought-iron. And his exposure to the avant-garde artists of Montparnasse, the circle of Jean Cocteau, Dora Maar, Charlotte Perriand and Eric Satie amongst others, enabled Poillerat to synthesise his art and opened a new path for ironwork.
Gilbert Poillerat did not want to sign his work with a stamp as he believed the work itself was a signature, and was too eager to move on to the next design.
In 1934, he was commissioned to design the room of the first-class pool of the ill-fated ship Normandie with six bronze doors and then worked for the French fashion designer Jacque Heim.
But this is after the war, Gilbert Poillerat started his own company and was the first to use stainless steel in his design instead of wrought-iron.
He was known to like gild bronze and apply gold leaf to wrought-iron with many pieces patinated with a greenish hue.
By the end of the 1950's his work became more geometric compared to pre 50's where he used many motifs such as tassels (directoire), sunbursts (Louis XIV) and rope (rococo, regence) for example.
And eventually after the war, Poillerat was offered in 1946 by the minister of the Beaux-Arts, the post of professor of the École Nationale Supérieure des Art Décoratifs.
A job which he kept for 26 years whilst continuing to design wrought-iron, jewellery, silver and bronze.
Gilbert Poillerat was an exceptional wrought-iron master - from 1921 to 1971, he managed to bring humour, elegance and passion into the medium.
He continues to remain an important figure in French design.
