JEAN ROYÈRE (1902-1981)
- STYLE ALPHABET
- Oct 12, 2023
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 23
Born into a wealthy family, Jean Royère initially worked as a banker in the import-export trade until 1931.
He was a self-taught designer, however, Royère defended his freedom to create. ‘I’ll never be attached to one school or one theory", he said.
Royère had no formal design education. He was the only son of a high-ranking civil servant from Brittany and his French wife, who had been raised in Vienna and was related to Charles Darwin and the founders of Wedgwood ceramics.
Breaking into the world of design at the age of 29, he trained under Pierre Gouffé who taught him the craftsmanship of cabinetmaking and became later on in 1934 appointed as his head of his workshop's contemporary furniture studio.
His first commission was for his uncle Jacques Raverat - a set of garden furniture with its elongated lines which became his trademark.
The Exposition Universelle in 1937 was a resounding success for Royère who designed seventeen different sets of furniture stands and then became a member of the Salon des artistes décorateurs.
In 1939, the boudoir he designed reinforced his talent and skills in his career.
His repertoire of poetic designs drew inspiration from the animal and vegetable realms such as the Élephanteau armchair, the Champignon lamp, the Bouquet sconce, and the Trèfle chair.
He approached design with a focus on luxe materials, richly hued colours, and an inventive formal language of elegance and whimsy.
In 1942, Jean Royère opened his own agency on 5 rue d'Agenson in Paris, and in 1949, opened his first gallery on 182 Faubourg Saint-Honoré.
His design broke free from the functionalist trend and focused on ornamentation which was exemplified by the 1947 office of a Paris businesswoman clad entirely in perforated iron sheet.
Gaston Louis Eugène Dutilleul, who commissioned Royère to design furnishings for his numerous personal and professional establishments in the 1950s. Dutilleul was inspired by Royère’s highly modern and innovative approach to interior design
Dutilleul is undoubtedly an important patron of Royère’s work, and their professional relationship shows that while the designer was primarily producing commissioned couture furnishings, these high-style pieces were also present within spaces other than the luxurious private interior, such as Dutilleul’s school for underprivileged children.
Royère's decorative inventiveness brought him into contact with many leaders namely King Hussein of Jordan, the King of Saudi Arabia and the Shah of Iran for whom he designed a film theatre in 1958.
Royère stopped designing in 1971 and in 1980, he moved to California to join his partner. A year later, he died in Pennsylvania, leaving his archives to the Museum of Decorative Arts (MAD) in Paris.
