Skip to main content

Jean Royère Collectibles and Curiosities

French, 1902-1981

World traveler, polyglot and avant-garde visionary Jean Royère (1902–81) is one of the biggest names in French mid-century design. He was fascinated by different materials, such as raffia and zebrawood, and aesthetics from around the world, from Scandinavian modernism to the traditions of the Middle East. Owing to this venturesome spirit, Royère produced an eclectic body of work that truly doesn’t fit a singular style. One light fixture might have organic shapes reminiscent of Art Nouveau, while a table would be crafted with minimalist straw marquetry.

Born in Paris, Royère studied classics at Cambridge University and then worked for an import-export company. In 1931, he switched gears to design, studying cabinetmaking in the workshops of Faubourg Saint-Antoine and furniture making under the tutelage of Pierre Gouffé. He made his debut in interior design in 1934 when he won a design contest for the brasserie in the Hotel Carlton on the Champs-Élysées.

Royère’s most famous piece of furniture was his biomorphic Boule sofa, sometimes playfully called the Ours Polaire, or Polar Bear. Designed for his mother in 1947, the curved sofa with its fuzzy white velvet shocked the French interior design world when it was displayed at the Art et Industrie exhibition, but it proved enduringly popular with customers, such as the Shah of Iran, who purchased several for his daughter. Royère would continue to design furniture and interiors for an elite clientele, including the kings of Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

Royère retired in 1972, then moved to the United States in 1980. After he died a year later, his archives were given to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. His works continue to be highly coveted — Kanye West, for instance, once tweeted that the Polar Bear sofa is his favorite piece of furniture. In 2016, Galerie Patrick Seguin in Paris opened a retrospective of his distinctive designs, from the plush 1943 Eléphanteau chair to the 1963 Tour Eiffel table with its elegant metal supports.

Find vintage Jean Royère tables, storage cabinets and other furniture today on 1stDibs.

to
2
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
4
102
91
72
70
Creator: Jean Royère
Jean Royere Book by Catherine and Stephane de Beyrie and Jacques Ouaiss
Jean Royere Book by Catherine and Stephane de Beyrie and Jacques Ouaiss

Jean Royere Book by Catherine and Stephane de Beyrie and Jacques Ouaiss

By Jean Royère

Located in New York, NY

Book with stiff pictorial wrappers showcasing the work of renowned French designer Jean Royere, with many of the designs in this collection originating from Lebanese commissions. Pub...

Category

Early 2000s American Mid-Century Modern Jean Royère Collectibles and Curiosities

Materials

Paper

Jean Royere: Exposition (Galerie Jacques Lacoste)
Jean Royere: Exposition (Galerie Jacques Lacoste)

Jean Royere: Exposition (Galerie Jacques Lacoste)

By Jean Royère

Located in New York, NY

Catalog published in conjunction with an exhibition of the works of Jean Royere held at the Jacques Lacoste Gallery in Paris from 25 May-2 July 1999. Lacoste was, and is, a passionat...

Category

1990s French Mid-Century Modern Jean Royère Collectibles and Curiosities

Materials

Paper

Related Items
Jacques Jarrige
Jacques Jarrige

Jacques Jarrige

$75

H 11 in W 10 in D 1.5 in

Jacques Jarrige

By Jacques Jarrige

Located in New York, NY

ISBN 979-8-9853078-0-1 Art book 328 pages This mid-career survey of the works of Jacques Jarrige marks the 12th anniversary of my fruitful collaboration with him. At the heart of...

Category

2010s Italian Jean Royère Collectibles and Curiosities

Materials

Paper

Versailles The Hidden Splendors of Sun King’s Palace Book by Catherine Pégard
Versailles The Hidden Splendors of Sun King’s Palace Book by Catherine Pégard

Versailles The Hidden Splendors of Sun King’s Palace Book by Catherine Pégard

Located in New York, NY

Versailles The Great and Hidden Splendors of the Sun King’s Palace By: Catherine Pégard Photographs by Christophe Fouin, Thomas Garnier, Christian Miles, and Didier Saulnier Versail...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Jean Royère Collectibles and Curiosities

Materials

Paper

Magritte by Jacques Meuris 1988 1st Edition Hardcover Art Book
Magritte by Jacques Meuris 1988 1st Edition Hardcover Art Book

Magritte by Jacques Meuris 1988 1st Edition Hardcover Art Book

By René Magritte

Located in Moreno Valley, CA

Magritte by Jacques Meuris 1988 1st Edition. First American Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine in Near Fine dust jacket. 233pp 393 illustrations. Blue boards in dust jacket. Translat...

Category

1980s French Modern Vintage Jean Royère Collectibles and Curiosities

Materials

Paper

Paris 1937 -- Exposition Internationale
Paris 1937 -- Exposition Internationale

Paris 1937 -- Exposition Internationale

$8,348

H 24 in W 16 in D 0.1 in

Paris 1937 -- Exposition Internationale

By Eugene Beaudoin and Marcel Lods

Located in London, GB

Original French poster for the Exposition International in Paris, 1937. This award-winning Art Deco design was created by Eugene Beaudoin (1898-1983) and Marcel Lods...

Category

1930s French Art Deco Vintage Jean Royère Collectibles and Curiosities

Jean Royere by Jacques Lacoste & Patrick Seguin (Book)
Jean Royere by Jacques Lacoste & Patrick Seguin (Book)

Jean Royere by Jacques Lacoste & Patrick Seguin (Book)

Located in North Yorkshire, GB

In 1931, aged 29, Jean Royère (1902-1981) resigned from a comfortable position in the import-export trade in order to set up business as an interior designer. He learnt his new trade in the cabinetmaking workshops of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine in Paris. In 1934, he designed the new layout of the Brasserie Carlton on the Champs Elysées and found immediate success, embarking upon an international career that was to endure for nearly half a century. Royère tackled all kinds of decoration work and opened branches in the Near East and Latin America; among his patrons were King Farouk, King Hussein...

Category

20th Century Jean Royère Collectibles and Curiosities

Materials

Paper

Jean Prouve/Serge Mouille Book
Jean Prouve/Serge Mouille Book

Jean Prouve/Serge Mouille Book

$1,000

H 11.5 in W 9.75 in D 1 in

Jean Prouve/Serge Mouille Book

Located in New York, NY

DeLorenzo 1950, Jean Prouve/Serge Mouille, 1985 exhibition catalog.

Category

19th Century American Antique Jean Royère Collectibles and Curiosities

Original Catalog – Picasso Peintures 1955-1956 at Galerie Louise Leiris, 1957
Original Catalog – Picasso Peintures 1955-1956 at Galerie Louise Leiris, 1957

Original Catalog – Picasso Peintures 1955-1956 at Galerie Louise Leiris, 1957

By Pablo Picasso

Located in Barcelona, ES

Original Exhibition Catalog – Picasso Peintures 1955-1956 at Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris, 1957 Artist: Pablo Picasso Exhibition: Picasso Peintures 1955-1956 – Galerie Louise Leiri...

Category

1950s Spanish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jean Royère Collectibles and Curiosities

Materials

Paper

Jean Dunand Jean Goulden (Book)
Jean Dunand Jean Goulden (Book)

Jean Dunand Jean Goulden (Book)

$275

H 10.32 in W 8.88 in D 0.88 in

Jean Dunand Jean Goulden (Book)

Located in North Yorkshire, GB

June 12th - September 6th 2013 The Exhibition at Kelly Gallery is a reprise celebration of the innovative skills and artistry of Jean Dunand and Jean Goulden. It comprise about 40 wo...

Category

20th Century Jean Royère Collectibles and Curiosities

Materials

Paper

Renaissance Splendor Catherine de' Medici's Valois Tapestries 1st Ed
Renaissance Splendor Catherine de' Medici's Valois Tapestries 1st Ed

Renaissance Splendor Catherine de' Medici's Valois Tapestries 1st Ed

Located in valatie, NY

Renaissance Splendor: Catherine de' Medici's Valois Tapestries by Elizabeth Cleland. Published by The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2018. 1st Ed hardcover with dust jacket. 96 pages, with...

Category

2010s American Jean Royère Collectibles and Curiosities

Materials

Paper

Jean-Louis Deniot, Interiors
Jean-Louis Deniot, Interiors

Jean-Louis Deniot, Interiors

$65 / item

H 11.3 in W 9.4 in D 1.3 in

Jean-Louis Deniot, Interiors

By Rizzoli International Publications

Located in New York, NY

Author Diane Dorrans Saeks, photographs by Xavier Bejot. The first book on the work of a designer whose refined classical interiors are widely desired and emulated as the epitome of French style. Honored as one of the top designers by all the international design magazines and universally admired by design editors, Jean-Louis Deniot is in demand. His updated classical approach now graces interiors in Paris, the French countryside, Moscow, India, New York, Chicago, L.A., and beyond—and his legacy is already being compared to that of design greats such as Jacques Grange and Alberto Pinto. Deniot is an architect first, ensuring that the interior architecture of his rooms is harmonious before giving a neoclassical approach to the decor. He brings education, logic, and design history to his work, with one eye looking at the most refined style of French eighteenth century and one eye on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. His mix is highly individual and includes contemporary art and custom-made furniture, yet his rooms always look comfortable and are never overly formal or trendy. This book demonstrates a new, sophisticated classical style that is changing the scene for international design and offering inspiration and ideas to decorators, homeowners, and antiques enthusiasts. About the author Diane Dorrans Saeks is a noted design lecturer. She is the founder of the design/travel blog The Style Saloniste, and the author of Ann Getty...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Jean Royère Collectibles and Curiosities

Materials

Paper

Exposition Marc du Plantier (Book)
Exposition Marc du Plantier (Book)

Exposition Marc du Plantier (Book)

$350

H 9.75 in W 7.25 in D 0.5 in

Exposition Marc du Plantier (Book)

Located in North Yorkshire, GB

Gallerie Willy Huybrechts. Exhibition dated 15th November to 15 December 2005. Fifteen years after his first solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in Madrid, devoted mainly to ...

Category

20th Century Jean Royère Collectibles and Curiosities

Materials

Paper

Jacques Garcia Decorating In The French Style Book by Franck Ferrand 1999
Jacques Garcia Decorating In The French Style Book by Franck Ferrand 1999

Jacques Garcia Decorating In The French Style Book by Franck Ferrand 1999

By Jacques Garcia

Located in Moreno Valley, CA

Jacques Garcia Decorating In The French Style Hardcover Book by Franck Ferrand 1999. Jacques Garcia Decorating In The French Style, is a reference in term of French Decoration Style.Pubished in 2005, this version is the Original publication which was later modified.After designing private interiors for distinguished clients worldwide, Jacques Garcia subsequently set about decorating some of the most popar establishments in Paris - from the Hotel Costes, the Laduree tearoom on the Champs Elysees and the new Fouquet's, to the brasserie La Grande Armee and L'Avenue. But his masterpiece is the Norman chateau Le Champ de Bataille, in which every detail contributes to the formation of a new style: the Garcia style.Jacques Garcia is one of the most fashionable interior designers in France today. Parisians flock to the tables of the exclusive Hotel Costes he designed near the place Vendome, and the famous tea room Laduree on the Champs Elysees to dine and be seen in his elegant and atmospheric fin-de-siecle salons. Garcia counts among his private clients royalty, actors, piticians and businessmen from New York to Beirut, but he is just as much at home refurbishing museums (musee Carnavalet, musee de la Vie Romantique) and palace hotels and casinos in Deauville or Baden-Baden. Neoclassicism, Orientalism and Empire Revival are his decorative landmarks. In deliberate opposition to the post-modern spaces designed by wunderkind Philippe Starck in the early 90s, Garcia is passionate about the past, but his is not a dry historicism. He is a master at mixing texture, pattern and cor. His re-created rooms seem to bear the traces of generations, but are in fact the product of his inspired and irreverent imagination and attention to detail. The magnificent, ongoing restauration and decoration of his Normandy chateau, Champs de Bataille, attracts visitors from the world over and is a monument to his art and creativity.Stunningly illustrated, this sumptuous vume will appeal to anyone interested in interior decoration and provides a privileged look into the exclusive world of French elegance and style.In mid-career, Jacques Garcia invites us to explore an oeuvre in continuous development in which the marvels of the past have been revisited with an eye to the present. A magician of mood, Garcia is expert at keeping spectators spellbound.Here, extensively illustrated, is the first work entirely devoted to this outstanding interior designer. In it we share the joys to be derived from a certain art of living a la francaise, in the timeless tradition of the "grand style". A thirty-year career has made Jacques Garcia a worldwide name in interior design in the French tradition. In Paris, chic crowds flock to his celebrated Hétel Costes and Ladurée tearoom, and to his many fin de siécle brasseries. Garcia's designs also grace the interiors of the Musée Carnavalet and the Musée de la Vie Romantique and his most recent tour de force is the restoration of Paris Hotel Mansart. Garcia's most ambitious project to date, the refurbishment of the Chateau du Champ...

Category

Late 20th Century French Baroque Jean Royère Collectibles and Curiosities

Materials

Paper

Previously Available Items
Jean Royère Cheminees et Coins de Feu
Jean Royère Cheminees et Coins de Feu

Jean Royère Cheminees et Coins de Feu

Sold

H 13.19 in W 10.04 in D 0.79 in

Jean Royère Cheminees et Coins de Feu

By Jean Royère

Located in CA, CA

Jean Royère Cheminees et Coins de Feu Edition d'Art Charles Moreau, Paris 1950. First Edition. Illustrated paper covered boards with cloth spine. Folio with a suite 42 of loose photographic plates as issued in portfolio. with cloth spine. 42 black and white photographic plates of various fireplaces designed by A. Bernard, Roger Berthier, Leleu, Jacques Mottheau...

Category

Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Jean Royère Collectibles and Curiosities

Materials

Paper

"Jean Royère, Decorateur a Paris" Book
"Jean Royère, Decorateur a Paris" Book

"Jean Royère, Decorateur a Paris" Book

Sold

H 9.5 in W 12.25 in D 0.75 in

"Jean Royère, Decorateur a Paris" Book

By Jean Royère

Located in New York, NY

Catalog in colorful softcover boards published by Editions Norma to coincide with an exhibition held at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs from October 1999 to January 2000. Text is in Fr...

Category

1990s French Mid-Century Modern Jean Royère Collectibles and Curiosities

Materials

Paper

Jean Royère, Mobilier 1992 Limited Edition Book
Jean Royère, Mobilier 1992 Limited Edition Book

Jean Royère, Mobilier 1992 Limited Edition Book

Sold

H 0.6 in W 9.85 in D 12.01 in

Jean Royère, Mobilier 1992 Limited Edition Book

By Jean Royère

Located in CA, CA

First edition, limited edition of 1150, published by Pierre Passebon, Galerie du Passage, 1992. Published in an edition of 150 ‘HC’ numbered copies, and ...

Category

1990s French Jean Royère Collectibles and Curiosities

"Jean Royère" Décorateur à Paris

"Jean Royère" Décorateur à Paris

Sold

H 9.26 in W 12.21 in D 0.6 in

"Jean Royère" Décorateur à Paris

By Jean Royère

Located in CA, CA

First edition, softcover, published by Norma Editions, 1999, French edition. Celebrated French interior designer, Jean Royère refined his trade in cabinetmaking workshops of the F...

Category

1990s French Jean Royère Collectibles and Curiosities

"Jean Royère" Décorateur à Paris
"Jean Royère" Décorateur à Paris

"Jean Royère" Décorateur à Paris

Sold

H 23.5 in W 31 in D 1.5 in

"Jean Royère" Décorateur à Paris

By Jean Royère

Located in CA, CA

First edition, softcover, published by Norma Editions, 1999, French edition. Celebrated French interior designer, Jean Royère refined his trade in cabinetmaking workshops of the F...

Category

Mid-20th Century French Jean Royère Collectibles and Curiosities

Jean Royère collectibles and curiosities for sale on 1stDibs.

Jean Royère collectibles and curiosities are available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re looking for additional options, many customers also consider collectibles and curiosities by Jacques Jarrige, François Linke, and René Lalique.